Editor’s Note: The following is testimony delivered by Anne Peters to the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health on Sept. 18, 2024. More information about the hearing can be found here.
Key Points
- Chronic diseases are a growing health and economic burden: Conditions like obesity,
diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s are becoming increasingly prevalent,
driving up healthcare costs. By 2030, cumulative chronic disease costs could reach $42
trillion. - Obesity is at the core of the chronic disease crisis: New obesity treatments show
promise, with potential for significant health improvements and cost savings. Medicare
coverage of obesity treatments could generate $4 trillion in social value to Americans
over three decades. - Prevention and early intervention are critical: Comprehensive treatment of chronic
conditions like obesity and diabetes, especially when initiated at younger ages, can yield
substantial long-term health and economic benefits. The social return on investment from
treating adults with moderate obesity is estimated at more than 15% per year. - Delaying aging could have enormous benefits: Scientific advances suggest it may be
possible to slow the aging process and delay the onset of multiple age-related chronic
diseases simultaneously. Even modest success in delaying aging could yield enormous
health and economic benefits. - Policy changes are needed to incentivize prevention and health: Recommendations
include reimbursing physicians for patient outcomes, encouraging multi-year insurance
contracts, ensuring innovators are paid socially desirable returns, creating regulatory and
reimbursement incentives for preventive interventions, and implementing value-based
reimbursement models.
Full testimony is available here.