Tomorrow, President Obama will hit the 100-day milestone in his presidency. There’s no doubt that the President inherited some sizable problems when he arrived into office, especially in the realm of health care.
Here are some examples of what’s happened in his first 100 days to Americans’ health and the U.S. health care system, based on current trends:
- Nearly a quarter of a million (217,000+) children born in the U.S. so far this year will be obese by their 4th birthday
- Two-thirds of a million (665,000+) Medicare enrollees have been re-admitted to hospitals within 30 days of undergoing treatment other than surgery, at a cost of $465 million to Medicare
- About ten times that amount -- $465 billion – has been spent to treat patients with one or more chronic diseases (public and private spending)
- A total of $613 billion has been spent on health care (public and private spending)
The sense of urgency is just as great today as it was when Obama was sworn in. We urge the White House and Congress to keep working on solutions that address these deep, systemic issues as the next 100 days could make or break health care reform.
Sources:
Children and Obesity
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/163/4/344
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/health/19birth.html
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_12.pdf
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/07/obesity.preschool.children/
Medicare
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/360/14/1418?ijkey=3CQjS3yxXjOtY&keytype=ref&siteid=nejm
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/health/02hospital.html
National Health Expenditures
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/tables.pdf
Cost of Chronic Diseases
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/overview.htm