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Projected costs to treat heart disease in US will triple by 2030
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Health care costs related to the treatment of heart disease in the United States are expected to triple by 2030, according to new projections from the American Heart Association.
“Despite the successes in reducing and treating heart disease over the last half century, even if we just maintain our current rates, we will have an enormous financial burden on top of the disease itself,” Paul Heidenreich, MD, chair of the American Heart Association (AHA) panel that issued the Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2011 policy statement in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, said in a press release.
Skyrocketing financial burden
According to current statistics, one in three Americans (36.9%) has heart disease, including hypertension, coronary heart disease, heart failure and stroke. By 2030, approximately 116 million people in the United States (40.5%) will have some form of cardiovascular disease, the panel said. Stroke is expected to increase by 24.8% and HF by 25%.
From 2010 to 2030, the cost of medical care for heart disease will rise from $273 billion to $818 billion dollars, the panel predicted. Note: figures are in 2008 US dollar values. The experts attributed the $545 billion increase to an aging population.
In addition, heart disease is expected to cost the national billions more dollars in lost productivity, increasing from an estimated $172 billion in 2010 to $276 billion in 2030. Productivity losses include missed days from home or work tasks because of illness and potential lost earning due to premature death, according to the AHA press release.
“We were all surprised at the remarkable increase in costs that are expected in the next 2 decades,” Heidenreich said in the release.
The panel estimated future medical costs based on current rates of disease and used Census data to adjust for anticipated population shifts in age and race; their methods did not double count costs for patients with multiple heart conditions.
Preventing these increases
The panel said effective prevention strategies are needed to limit the growing burden of CVD, which currently accounts for 17% of overall national health expenditures. The skyrocketing financial burden makes it urgent to implement effective strategies to prevent heart disease and stroke.
“These estimates don’t assume that we will continue to make new discoveries to reduce heart disease,” Heidenreich said. “If our ability to prevent and treat heart disease stays where we are right now, costs will triple in 20 years just through demographic changes in the population.”
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Disclosure: View the full study for the writing group’s individual disclosures.
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