It is possible to reduce this cost category by as much as 70 to 75%

Healthcare costs are one of the significant costs that businesses and individuals have to deal with today. The United States spent $2,500.000,000,000 on healthcare in 2009 (two and a half trillion dollars). Almost half of this comes from Medicare and Medicaid, and the other half comes from private insurance and out-of-pocket spending. This means that the average American pays $8,000 per year per person for healthcare. To give you some perspective on this, our annual spending on the Afghanistan and Iraq war was costing us $200 billion per year. To give you another comparison on how significant this is the country of India GDP is 1.5 trillion. That figure represents their whole economy.

One of the surprising facts that many businesses and individuals don’t know is that according to the Centers for Disease Control 70 to 75% of healthcare costs are related to preventable diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

So what can we do as businesses and individuals to help control our healthcare cost and help our national cause? It basically boils down to the basics of sleep (rest), water intake, diet and exercise.  According to a survey of 400,000 Americans, only 27% get the recommended 30 minutes or more of exercise five days a week. People who exercise at least two days a week are happier and have significantly less stress. Research shows that the benefits from exercise increases the more we exercise but starts to diminish in benefit beyond 6 days in a week.

Researchers monitored participants in a bicycle riding exercise and observed that individuals that exercised in this way for at least 20 minutes experienced a better mood for 2, 4, 8, and up to 12 hours when compared with those who did not exercise.

As a Mayo Clinic publication stated: “A lack of energy often results from inactivity, not age”. As we increase our exercise, we will not only impact our mood but our health, costs and productivity.

To discuss or request a talk be given about this topic, call
Amos B Robinson, Practice Leader (Article Author)
“We help work places become more profitable, productive and happy”
(804)651-5400
www.robinsonbc.com