Bipartisan Coalition Forms to Call for Chronic Disease to be Key Focus of Health Reform in Connecticut and ...( Chronic Disease Costs Connecticut ...),Health

Chronic Disease Costs Connecticut $12.9 Billion in Lost Productivity and $3.3 Billion in Treatment Costs, Totaling $16.2 Billion Annually

Reform Needed to Address Health Costs and Economic Loss Caused by this Crisis

HARTFORD, Conn., April 8 /PRNewswire/ -- -Health experts and statewide leaders representing over 50 business, state agencies, community centers and labor organizations came together in Hartford at the State Capitol at noon today to launch the Connecticut Chapter of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD), a coalition committed to making chronic disease prevention and management a major part of comprehensive health and economic reform.

The PFCD is led nationally by Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, the 17th Surgeon General of the United States (2002-2006), and Ken Thorpe, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, and a former White House health policy advisor.

"It is impossible to contain rising health care costs - and tackle other issues of coverage and quality - without addressing chronic disease through comprehensive health reform," said Thorpe. "President Obama has made it clear that reforming our nation's health care system is a top priority for his Administration. In fact, the current economic downturn has made addressing the issue of health care reform an even more critical priority in 2009," Thorpe explained.

"Right now, health care reform is being debated in Congress for the first time in nearly 15 years and controlling cost must be a key focus of this debate. The single biggest threat to stemming rising costs is the uncontrolled increase in chronic illnesses like diabetes and asthma, and related conditions such as obesity," Thorpe added.

Here in Connecticut, the financial burden of chronic disease
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