If Medicare beneficiaries worked harder to cut their heart disease risks, the U.S. government could cut $41 billion from what it spends on the program every year, the American Heart Association reported recently.
The heart group said its study showed that people simply need to accomplish five of its so-called "Life's Simple 7" modifiable healthy habits. The areas of focus are cigarette smoking, physical activity, diet, body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels.
“The actual cost for persons with fewer than five to seven factors is almost certainly higher,” said Dr. Kristal Aaron, lead author of the study and clinical data manager at the University of Alabama. “Skilled nursing facility, home health and hospice care, durable medical supplies, and medications were excluded in this analyses; thus, our study was limited to inpatient and outpatient visits for beneficiaries with Medicare fee-for-service in the 2014 calendar year. So this is probably a very conservative estimate.”
The researchers determined the estimated savings by using data from Reasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke, a national, population-based longitudinal study. The study focused on Medicare claims for 6,262 beneficiaries over age 65 with fee-for-service coverage and no prior history of cardiovascular disease.
Two of the study’s primary findings were that less than 7 percent of the participants had five to seven ideal factors, and those with lower “Life’s Simple 7” scores were more likely to be female, African American, unmarried, with less than a high school education and an annual income of less $20,000.
