Some 45 percent of Americans under 65 who have cardiovascular disease experience financial hardships from medical bills.*
“planning for the financial consequences of a heart attack or stroke is so important for all men and women starting in your 40s and 50s.”
Jesse Slome, director of the American Association of Critical Illness Insurance
HEART DISEASE COSTS 2035; Critical Illness Awareness Month News – October 6, 2020 Projected costs of cardiovascular disease will more than double through 2035. A report by the American Heart Association expects costs from congestive heart failure to increase from the current $18 billion to $45 billion by 2035.
Costs of strokes will increase from the present $37 billion to $94 billion by 2035. “Costs associated with heart attacks and strokes continue to increase and even people with health insurance are impacted,” explains Jesse Slome, director of the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance.
“People mistakenly think that heart attacks happen at older ages but that’s not always true,” Slome cites. “They happen before age 65 and Medicare and that’s when many people are especially vulnerable to the financial consequences.”
A report in Reuter’s* reports that some 45 percent of Americans under 65 who have cardiovascular disease experience financial hardships from medical bills. The findings note that almost one in five of them can’t afford to pay their medical bills at all.
Patients with heart disease typically have out-of-pocket health costs of more than $2,000 a year, with more than half of that tab paying for medications, the study authors note. The researchers looked at data from the 2013 to 2017 National Health Interview Surveys. They examined 6,160 adults under 65 with heart disease.
About one in three heart disease patients with financial hardship from their medical bills had to cut back on necessities like food or forgo needed medications as a result, the study found. One in five patients unable to pay their bills had to both cut back on both food and drugs.
One heart attack every 40 seconds, one stroke every 40 seconds
”Heart attacks are a real risk for men and women,” Slome adds. “Thanks to better emergency treatment and medical care many heart attack victims survive. The same can’t be said for their finances following a heart attack. That’s why planning for the financial consequences of a heart attack or stroke is so important for all men and women starting in your 40s and 50s.”
- Source: Journal of the American College of Cardiology, online February 11, 2019.
Heart disease costs 2035
Another study released by the American Heart Association, projects that by 2035, the number of Americans with cardiovascular disease (CVD) will rise to 131.2 million – 45 percent of the total U.S. population – with costs expected to reach $1.1 trillion. The study notes that by age 45, your CVD risk is 50 percent, at 65 it jumps to 80 percent.
Find critical illness insurance rates on the Association’s website
Healthy Habits News is the Facebook posts maintained by the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance. Latest reports from major health-related research entities. To read more go to https://www.facebook.com/ciexperts and Follow (or Like) to page.
