The Cost

Naturally heart disease, any long term chronic condition, can cause ourselves, our friends, and family members a great deal of pain and stress. CVD accounts for more than one-third (35.3%) of all U.S. deaths. More than 151,000 Americans who died of cardiovascular diseases in 2005 were younger than age 65. Heart disease and stroke are also among the leading causes of disability in the U.S. workforce, with nearly 1 million people being disabled from strokes alone.

As our country struggles with the issue of health care and controlling health care costs, have we become our own worst enemy? The cost of heart disease and stroke in the United States, including health care expenditures and lost productivity from deaths and disability, is projected to be more than $475 billion in 2009. It is projected that cardiovascular disease and stroke will cost the United States an estimated $503.2 billion in 2010, an increase of nearly 6 percent. As the U.S. population ages, the economic impact of cardiovascular diseases on our nation’s health care system will become even greater.

The pain and suffering that we endure with diseases such as cardiovascular disease only add insult to injury by contributing to the bankruptcy of our health care system. The greatest tragedy of this situation is that heart disease is, as the AHA says “eminently preventable”.