It’s estimated that chronic metabolic disease accounts for 75% of America’s $3.2 trillion health care bill, of which 75% is preventable. Indeed, our Medicare will go belly-up by 2026, and Social Security by 2029, due to diabetes. Same for the NHS.
People dying younger saves money for health care and pension systems.
It doesn’t kill people (substantially) younger than normal, that’s why.
What dying younger – or rather being ill younger – does is to bring forward future costs to the health service. So it costs extra money now to save money in the long run.
The New Puritans.
There is a problem with diabetics: they live for several decades with complications such as kidney failure, blindness, amputations, all of which are incapacitating and expensive to treat.
This in the Grauniad which thinks there is an unlimited supply of tax money to fund the NHS if only the eevil Tories would collect it?
“There is a problem with diabetics: they live for several decades with complications such as kidney failure, blindness, amputations, all of which are incapacitating and expensive to treat.” – and we get free prescriptions to boot.
I can’t see that lasting but while it does …
john77, if only The Guardian paid its fair share of tax…
@ Henry Crun
BVy soliciting donations, instead of a subscription, they can avoid tax there too. I wonder if they claim gift aid?
Suffice it to say that no writers for, or readers of, the Graun have a prayer of solving the problem.
No arts graduate has ever made a significant contribution to science, and so will never solve the problem of diabetes.
And by evading tax, given it’s latest business model, it won’t help that way either.
“and we get free prescriptions to boot.”
Sorry, I must have missed that. I’ve just come back from paying £17.50 for my latest collection of drugs.
‘It’s estimated’
Must be true then.
Even though it’s obvious bull hockey.
Jgh,
Is it a regular prescription? When I had a regular prescription I got one of those pre payment cards to keep the cost down. It was £100 for a year for all my prescriptions.
I think dying more quickly is what saves money.