According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) diabetes in United States is one of the major causes for the burden of disease. The data on morbidity during the year 2011-2014 is classified into three categories based on the diagnosis and undiagnosed condition. Among the U.S. population, it shows that the 9.6% of the adults of the age 20 years and above have a diagnosed diabetic condition by a physician. About 3.0% of the population of the age 20 years and above has undiagnosed diabetes and about 12.6% of the young population has a diagnosed or undiagnosed condition with diabetes.
The ambulatory care visits that includes the number of visits to the hospital outpatients, physician offices and emergency departments for the primary diagnosis of diabetes was about 37.3 million among the U.S. population during the year 2009 to 2010. The data on mortality rates during the year 2014 on diabetes was 76,488 that is 24.0 deaths per 100,000 populations. This mortality rate has made diabetes as the seventh leading cause of death among the U.S. population.
From the above data, it is evident that diabetes is one the major cause of death among the U.S. population that is affecting a major section of the population. It also explains that the U.S population is ignorant about the diabetes that is causing deaths of 37.3 million people. The ambulatory visits show that people are negligent about their diabetic condition and are unaware of the ill-effects of prolonged undiagnosed diabetes due to sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy diet. This has contributed to the burden of disease among the U.S. population (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2014).
In the prevention of diseases, whether it is a primary or secondary diagnosis, it is focused on the most bangs for the buck that is cost-effective. Preventive coverage is a costly aspect that would benefit in the prevention of the diseases. For example, in the management of diabetes, self-management involves controlling of the blood pressure and feeling happy and healthy. The financial constrains are more in diabetes management as it is with huge bang for the buck.
Cost-effective focus is on the medical care. The healthcare systems are focused on the health interventions that provide effective medical care to the population. However, this healthcare intervention drains a lot of financial cost and addresses the populations that are at risk (Hood & Price, 2014).
Today’s healthcare is focused on the provision of delivery of healthcare where the focus is shifting to prevention so that it reduces the burden of disease among the population. Accountable healthcare is the main focus of the healthcare delivery systems where the doctors are focused on the trend to keep the people healthy and keep the health-acre costs under control (Shi & Singh, 2014).
Today’s health insurance is focused on providing better financial support for better quality of healthcare services. They are focused to make people afford high quality of healthcare that is cost–effective like the Affordable Care Act in United States.
Yes, prevention saves money as it helps to prevent illness and reduce the burden of disease that has a detrimental contribution adding to the healthcare costs. The focused prevention is helpful in saving financial costs that are involved in the treatment and further management of the disease (Tsukuda, 2013).
References:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). National diabetes statistics report: estimates of diabetes and its burden in the United States, 2014. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, 2014.
Hood, L., & Price, N. D. (2014). Demystifying disease, democratizing health care.
Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2014). Delivering health care in America. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Tsukuda, T. N. (2013, November). Public health saves lives, saves money: An evaluation of public health ROI in Los Angeles County. In 141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 2-November 6, 2013). APHA.
