Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 23, 1993 TAG: 9302230156
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
AMA BILL FOR BAD HABITS, VIOLENCE TOPS $42 BILLION
Unhealthy habits and violence cost the nation more than $42.9 billion in direct medical expenses every year, the American Medical Association estimated in a report released Monday.Related expenses such as lost productivity boost the total to more than $189.1 billion annually, according to the 22-page report, "Factors Contributing to the Health Care Cost Problem."
"Billions of dollars are spent each year treating medical conditions that could be avoided," said Dr. Daniel Johnson Jr., speaker of the AMA's House of Delegates.
"Violence, drugs, alcohol and tobacco are wreaking havoc on our health system," Johnson wrote in a statement accompanying the report.
Smoking and alcohol abuse cause the biggest financial drain, even though violence and illicit drugs often grab more headlines, Johnson said.
Health-care costs from smoking total $22 billion yearly, three-quarters of it spent on people under age 65, the report said.
The government shelled out $4.2 billion in Medicare and Medicaid payments for tobacco-related illnesses in 1985, the report said. It did not estimate indirect costs to the nation for such illnesses.
Tobacco use is blamed for 500,000 premature deaths annually, and accounts for 32 percent of fatal cancers, 21 percent of fatal heart disease and 88 percent of fatal chronic lung disease, the report said.
Alcohol-related health-care costs are $13.5 billion annually, most of those through general medical care, the report said.
Twenty-five percent to 40 percent of people in general hospital beds at any time are being treated for complications of alcoholism, and total economic costs were estimated at $85.8 billion in 1988, it said.
"Just in those two commonly abused products . . . reside an opportunity for enormous savings in our health-care system, not to mention the potential for improved quality of life for those individuals abusing the substances," Johnson said.
The nation's total health-care bill in the next 12 months will be $900 billion, up from $546 billion in 1988, he said.
The AMA report reflects no new research but draws together findings from dozens of previous studies, and it contains the latest data available, Johnson said.
Though it compares figures from several different years, the composite picture gives proportions that probably hold true today, he said.
The report said illicit-drug abuse cost $2.1 billion in direct health-care services in 1985 and $58.3 billion in total costs in 1988, including lost productivity and crime-fighting expenses.
All violent injuries, such as shootings and assaults, added $5.3 billion in direct medical costs to U.S. health-care expenditures in 1985. The lifetime cost of violent injuries suffered in 1985 was $45 billion, the report said.
Diseases related to obesity - a condition plaguing 34 million Americans - and high-fat, low-fiber diets are an extremely costly problem, the report said. But it did not estimate a price.
However, it noted that obesity and high-fat, low-fiber diets are linked to coronary heart disease, which costs Americans $49 billion directly and indirectly annually; strokes, which cost $11 billion; and diabetes, which cost $13.8 billion.
The report also looked at communicable diseases, including AIDS, which cost $10.3 billion to treat last year. The report did not total indirect AIDS costs, but said lifetime treatment for HIV-infected people is now about $102,000. A million Americans are believed to be infected.
Mark Nadel, associate director of national and public health issues for the General Accounting Office in Washington, said the report "certainly seems to be on target."
He noted, however, that previous research has shown healthier habits save money in some ways but cost more in others, such as increasing Social Security payouts because people live longer.