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ObamaCare Will Pay for the Care of the Chronically Ill Saving Money and Lives

Message Shirley Braverman

Continuing with the facts that Hospital and Emergency Room Care is the most expensive available, the creators of ObamaCare had to deal with the fact that the treatment of our chronically ill citizens was abysmal and expensive. The statistics just for Diabetes and Asthma alone are horrifying.

Cost of Diabetes Updated March 6, 2013

  • $245 billion: Total costs of diagnosed diabetes in the United States in 2012
  • $176 billion for direct medical costs
  • $69 billion in reduced productivity

After adjusting for population age and sex differences, average medical expenditures among people with diagnosed diabetes were 2.3 times higher than what expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes.

Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the United States in 2010 based on the 69,071 death certificates in which diabetes was listed as the underlying cause of death.

Emergency Department Visits for Adults with Diabetes in 2010 byRaynard E. Washington, Ph.D., Roxanne M. Andrews, Ph.D., and Ryan Mutter, Ph.D Published in November 2013. "In 2010, there were approximately 12.1 million diabetes-related Emergency Department visits for adults aged 18 years or older (515 per 10,000 U.S. population), or 9.4 percent of all ED visits. Most (57.9 percent) were treat-and-release visits.

"Emergency department utilization among patients with diabetes is likely affected by several factors, including lack of primary care, poor adherence to care plans and lifestyle modifications, and presence of complications."

And then from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation webpage, aafa.org,

  • Asthma accounts for one-quarter of all emergency room visits in the U.S. each year, with 1.75 million emergency room visits.
  • Each year, asthma accounts for more than 10 million outpatient visits and 479,000 hospitalizations.
  • The average length of stay (LOS) for asthma hospitalizations is 4.3 days.
  • Nearly half (44%) of all asthma hospitalizations are for children.
  • Asthma is the third-ranking cause of hospitalization children.

The annual cost of asthma is estimated to be nearly $18 billion.

Fast Facts: Every day in America:

44,000 people have an asthma attack.

36,000 kids miss school due to asthma.

27,000 adults miss work due to asthma.

4,700 people visit the emergency room due to asthma.

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Nurse journalists for 60 years. Animal activists -- the sane kind. Author of Animal Rescue Crusaders available on Amazon and Barns and Nobel and The Nurses' Stories

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