Health care costs have been rising for several years. Expenditures in
the United States on health care surpassed $2.3 trillion in 2008, more
than three times the $714 billion spent in 1990, and over eight times
the $253 billion spent in 1980. Controling this growth has become a
major policy priority, as the government, employers, and consumers
increasingly struggle to keep up with health care costs. In 2008, U.S.
health care spending was about $7,681 per resident and accounted for
16.2% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP); this is among the
highest of all industrialized countries. Clearly, something needs to
change.
One viable option to decrease health care costs
is chiropractic. Blue Cross/Blue Shield conducted a study from 1999 to
2005 that analyzed clinical and cost utilization data between primary
health care physicians. They studied 70,274 patients over a seven year period.
Those that exclusively used doctors of chiropractic as their primary
health care physician demonstrated decreases of 60.2% in-hospital
admissions, 59.0% hospital days, 62.0% outpatient surgeries and
procedures and 85% pharmaceutical costs when compared with conventional
medicine health care providers for the same health product in the same
geography and time frame.
For more information on how
chiropractic can minimize the need for medications and surgeries, visit
our website at www.valleychiroassoc.com.
