Coalition Commends Senators Baucus, Grassley for Including Prevention, Wellness of Chronic Disease in Recent Paper on Coverage Poli...(pending. In addition were obesity still ...),Health

The submitted comments focused on three core recommendations to strengthen the ideas brought forward in the Baucus/Grassley paper:

• Reducing the toll of chronic diseases requires a focus on prevention across the continuum of health status and settings that influence health.
• Financial decisions people face must be designed to lower barriers to patient compliance with recommended preventive care and prescribed care to prevent, detect, and manage chronic disease.
• Improvements to the health system should work to reduce health disparities.

These suggestions are supported by more detailed recommendations of potential improvements.

Chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease, are responsible for seven out of 10 deaths and affect more than 130 million Americans. The annual economic impact on the U.S. of the seven most common chronic diseases is estimated to be $1.3 trillion, which could balloon to nearly $6 trillion by 2050.

About the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease:

The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) is a national and state-based coalition of patients, providers, community organizations, business and labor groups, and health policy experts committed to raising awareness of the number one cause of death, disability, and rising health care costs in the U.S.: chronic disease. For more information about the PFCD and its partner organizations, please visit: www.fightchronicdisease.org.