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Make an impact on the Escalating Costs of Health Care? Annual expenditures for health care in the United States passed $1 trillion this year. It breaks down to about $4,000 a year for every man, woman, and child in the U.S., and twice that eight years from now. Despite our recent extraordinary economic growth, health care now consumes 14 percent of our gross domestic product, compared to nine percent in 1980. Clearly, our health care system is out of control financially. Now, there is a certain portion of healthcare expenses that will always be with us: the cost of accidents, infectious diseases, and so forth. There is not much we can do about reducing or eliminating them. However, the major portion ― more than half ― of our spiraling health care costs are due to chronic degenerative diseases; the very diseases that the USANA Nutritionals were designed to help people avoid. Today, more than 45 percent of Americans (about 100 million people) suffer from chronic conditions, costing our society over $700 billion per year. However, as we all learn sooner or later, the total losses caused by chronic degenerative diseases can't be measured only in economic terms. There are terrible personal costs as well, uncounted years of poor quality of life as well as shortened lives. Chronic conditions have accounted for three-quarters of all deaths in the United States in recent years, about 1.6 million deaths annually. In the U.S., people with chronic conditions died an average of 15 years prematurely in 1990. Worse, the incidence of people suffering from serious chronic diseases is climbing every year. Estimates made in 1996, were that the number of persons of all ages with chronic conditions will increase to an astronomical 148 million people by the year 2030. The total direct costs (in 1990 dollars) will have risen to over $800 billion. A popular misconception is that chronic degenerative diseases are health problems of the elderly and that young people have little to worry about. The truth is that these diseases attack people at all ages. Most of the chronic diseases have their beginnings in childhood, even in the womb. Some of them take their toll on young people. Cancer kills more children between the ages of 3 to 14 than any other disease, which dispels the myth that cancer has increased because we are living longer. Heart disease is the number five killer of children. The first sign of heart disease in more than 30 percent of cases is sudden death. This does not give a person much time for lifestyle changes. Overall, the sheer numbers of Americans with chronic conditions, and the health care costs they incur, have reached a threshold in which patients and providers are facing serious financial issues. There must be a major change in how we look at health, especially regarding the chronic degenerative diseases. Why does the cost of health care keep going up so dramatically every year and yet the well-being of people does not improve with it? Change will occur with or without the blessing of the insurance industry. We see the void and the need — and we intend to fill it. What was unorthodox and alternative yesterday becomes the standard of care tomorrow. The changing complexion of health care should motivate and inspire all of us and provoke those who are in control to fix it, because it is, indeed, broken. Focus on health There should be an intensified focus on health initiatives to improve the poor overall health status of our nation through a concerted effort to change health behaviors. Over the long term, improving our nation's health may be the best insurance against rising health care costs. Attacking something of this magnitude — the ever escalating cost of health care — must begin as a grassroots group and build into a small community, until the nation takes notice. Then we will be able to make a difference. I believe that we are being realistic in what we think we can achieve-what the current health care system seems unable to do. I don't claim that we can prevent or cure all diseases and allow you to live forever. However, by following the principles embodied in the USANA Health Sciences Essentials, Optimizers, and life enhancement programs, we can have reason to expect to have both a longer life and a healthier life. There is no doubt about it. We want informed individuals who are smarter, with better access to more data, to make appropriate decisions about their health. We can help them gain, sustain, and maintain their health. The paradigm must shift from disease to wellness. If this is appealing to you, contact us to arrange a time to discuss this further.