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Hospital Impact has been ranked one of the top 50 healthcare blogs by Wikio.
Blogs we like:
by Nick Jacobs
Just some interesting facts . . .
Under the category "If I had known that I would live this long, I would have taken better care of myself" . . . If you are a 50 year old woman today, there is a 40% chance that you will live to be 100 years old.
Here's another age related fact. If you count all of the people in the history of the world who have ever reached 65 years of age, 65%of them are alive today.
How about this fact? In 2012 five years from now, there will be more people in the United States as Social Security beneficiaries than there are working Americans to support them.
Finally, in the age related fact list; if you are a child today, there is a 30% chance that you will develop Type II diabetes. One third of all children today will be afflicted with Type II diabetes and the devastating impact of that disease.
So, how do we cope with these statistics? How do we deal with the potential impact of these statistics? How do we, as a country, prepare for these statistics?
Universal Health care? Well, in England, you will have a 1.5 year waiting time right now, today, for elective surgery. If you happen to live in Scotland, that wait goes to 2.5 years.
Keep in mind that at least 30% of every health care dollar that is spent in the United States is spent on the last 30 days of life.
It's also important to reflect on the fact that in 1993, 13.8% of the Gross Domestic Product was dedicated to health care, and by 2015, 20% of the United States GDP will be dedicated to health care. This year we spent $2.2 Trillion on health care and only 4% of that on preventative medicine.
We have 42 M uninsured and 43 M under insured citizens in the United States, and I'm not sure if that includes our illegal aliens.
We have 98,000 unnecessary deaths in our health system from medical errors each year, and we spend $10 a day more on average to imprison someone than we do for long term care.
Bottom line? If you don't see the need to correct or to work to correct these challenges, turn to the person to your right and ask them to help you remove your blinders.
