The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease expressed disappointment at Thursday's vice-presidential debate, saying Delaware Sen. Joe Biden and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin did not address one of the nation's most pressing economic issues: the rising cost of healthcare.
"Chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease account for 75 percent of every healthcare dollar spent in the U.S.," said Ken Thorpe, the PFCD's executive director. "This is a pressing issue not just for the health of Americans, but for our future economic stability, and voters deserve to hear the candidates discuss how they will address these rising costs."
Thorpe noted that the United States annually spends more than $2.1 trillion, or 16 percent of its GDP, on healthcare. He said it's inexcusable that the subject was not discussed in greater detail.
"The economic downturn has made paying attention to the issue of health reform in 2009 an even more important priority," said Thorpe. "Failure on the part of our nation's leaders to act on making healthcare more affordable is a recipe for long-term disaster."
Earlier this week, Thorpe and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson held a conference call to discuss why healthcare could be what they called "the next financial casualty" in the U.S. economic crisis. Thorpe said healthcare is becoming a growing financial burden for individual Americans and a threat to the U.S. economy.
Thorpe noted that chronic diseases are the leading driver of rising healthcare costs in America. The PFCD claims that the annual economic impact on the U.S. economy of the seven most common chronic diseases is approximately $1.3 trillion, and could balloon to nearly $6 trillion by the middle of the century.
The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease is a national coalition of patients, providers, and community organizations dedicated to raising awareness of the impact of chronic disease in the United States.