By Julie SteenhuysenCHICAGO (Reuters) ? The cost of caring for aging Americans will add 25 percent to the nation?s health care bill by 2030 unless people act now to stay healthy, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.Currently, 80 percent of Americans aged 65 and older have at least one chronic disease that could lead to premature death and disability, CDC researchers said.The report, The State of Aging and Health in America 2007, projects that by 2030, 71 million Americans will be over 65, accounting for 20 percent of the U.S. population, up from 10 to 11 percent now.With the cost of caring for older Americans at three to five times greater than care for younger adults, CDC researchers believe policymakers and individuals should take steps to help aging adults forestall chronic disease.Given the demographics ? the economic impact on healthcare will be enormous, said Dr. Richard Murray, a vice president at Merck & Co. Inc., whose foundation funded the study.If people adopt healthier lifestyles, they will not develop the expensive, chronic diseases that raise health costs sharply, such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease.We are going to see an increase in health care costs, but the goal has to be to restrain the rate of increase. Prevention is the key to that, said Bill Benson, a health care benefits and policy analyst who advised the CDC on the report.The report noted that three behaviors ? smoking, poor diet and physical inactivity ? caused almost 35 percent of U.S. deaths in 2000.SHARP REGIONAL VARIATIONThose three behaviors often lead to the development of the nation?s leading chronic diseases: heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes, they said.Having a chronic disease that?s well managed doesn?t necessarily put a person at risk for functional decline, but when someone starts developing problems, they are much more at risk, said Lynda Anderson, a chronic disease and aging expert at the CDC.The report looks at how states are faring in terms of elderly health and providing preventive care such as immunizations and health screenings and taking steps to prevent falls, a major risk for the elderly.You have some regions that are doing extremely well in a lot of areas and others that are struggling to get these services to older adults, she said.Elderly people in Hawaii, for example, are likely to fare better in many key measures of health. The state ranked best in overall health, mental health, and disability and had the lowest percent of obese elderly. But Hawaii ranked last in terms of screening for colorectal cancer.West Virginia ranked worst in terms of overall health, oral health and disability, while Kentucky had the highest level of elderly people reporting mental health problems. Louisiana reported the highest levels of obesity, with more than 25 percent of the elderly population considered obese.There are certainly areas that we need to really pay attention to, Anderson said.She hopes the data will give state policymakers the right tools to start building prevention programs now, before chronic disease begins.We have the opportunity for prevention, Merck?s Murray said. We need to be serious about it.? Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.You will participate in a current event study. Each year we instructors are asked by the administration to add a new feature to our classes. This year I have decided to add an economic current event study. The reason for this is so you will learn how to read economic reports in your newspaper, or in any business magazine or the Wall Street Journal. But more important is so you will learn how to derive your very own opinions. Most of the executives that are the highest paid executives in the country read either the Wall Street Journal or receive several Business or Economic Journals. That is why whenever you interview for a business you will see all sorts of trade magazines at the front of their offices. It is to give you an image that you are interviewing with one of the top businesses in the country. Plus the firm can see if you are up on current events or not. For your own benefit, we feel that you need to be able to take any economic article you see in any paper (economic only) and add your thoughts both for and against to the ideas using economic theories that you have presented from our class. Then offer your very own opinion at the end. I want you all to have your very own opinions at the end of our class.We are going to ask you in each discussion to find your very own economic article and discuss using your knowledge of economics what you have learned from the article. Add any economic theories you might know of into your discussion to receive your points. This is important stuff because you will be graded on the one you will present on the mid term and another one for the final. Even for the mid term and final I would like you to find an economic article for each and I will give you points as to how well you go through the following processes. It will be worth points on both of these tests so do it the right the first time.Here is how I want you to answer your current event problem. You will go to your newspaper and pull out any economic current event problem. The one that I was looking at has to do with Unemployment. Choose whatever problem you want to but go through the same processes that I have followed below.i.e. Economics Article ? format to follow is below:Democrats Blast Overtime Rules: Regulations would hurt working families, they say.Washington. Democrats and Union leaders are lambasting President Bush for a proposal they say would cost at least 8 million workers their overtime pay after the House backed his drive to overhaul decade old rules determining who qualifies for the extra money.Republicans voted 213 ? 210 on Thursday in an effort to derail the proposed regulations to impose changes in overtime rules as early as next year.I want you to analyze 4 parts to your current event study. First what issue is being discussed.Second, who it will hurt, third, who it is going to help and fourth, why is your opinion is best.1) Issue ~ How are we going to solve our unemployment problem.2) Who is this legislation going to hurt? According to the Democrats and Union leaders who are taking offense it is going to hurt working families because many of them on average receive an additional $5 to 10 thousand in over time compensation which is added to an average of $20 to 30 thousand a year. According to the Democrats this could seriously reduce the incomes of working families and make it harder on them to support their families.3) Who is this legislation going to help? The reason the Republicans are trying to undermine overtime is because while some lose others win. If companies no longer offer over time pay that means they will have to hire more workers. With a lot of unemployed people (up to a little over 9 million over 2003), it will cause firms to hire additional workers above their present work force to get any extra work done and therefore reduce some of the present unemployment. Republicans assume that this legislation could end up creating another 2 to 3 million more jobs over the next 3 years. This would also cause companies to hire more minorities i.e. Latinos and Blacks and women workers to pick up the slack in such a difficult and uncertain job market.4) This is what I believe should be done. (Next I would like you to add any of your own comments as to what group you favor and why.) There is no wrong and right with your opinion as long as it is well founded. I will be looking more for your reasoning in 1) and 2) than your opinion in 3) than what you say in 4) However, I do believe that every student who comes out of our class should have his or her very own opinion and not mine. That is why we are promoting our current event analysis so you will learn how to examine a current event and find what is it affecting and who it is hurting or helping so you can learn how to read articles and come up with your very own opinions and not accept the opinions of others. Finding your own opinion is an important life skill.
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