Tag Archives: chronic diseases

4 Major Factors Influencing Health Care Costs

The U.S. currently spends more on its health care services than any other country. However, the burden of increasing health care costs among average Americans is expected to grow faster than the national economy in coming years.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, for the first time, the U.S. health care costs are likely to surpass $10,000 per person. This report was published online by the journal Health Affairs.

Last year’s statistics from a joint survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and The New York Times, revealed that almost 20% of the Americans face problems when it comes to paying their medical bills. Around 63% give up on their savings either partially or fully, whereas 75% cut down on their essential supplies such as food, clothing and other necessities, in order to meet their medical expenses. In some circumstances, health care insurance policies do more harm than good; for many others, health care costs have even led to bankruptcy.

As the medical expenditures continue to rise, we take a look at the key factors that can contribute to health care costs:

  1. Inefficient Medical System and Medical Providers: Including Medicare, most insurers provide a fee-for-service system to doctors, health care providers, hospitals and other medical facilities by reimbursing for every treatment, procedure or visit. When paired with a disintegrated medical system, it leads to over-treatment and repetitive tests, which gets accounted as health care costs.
  1. Majority of Unhealthy Population: A good majority of American population are either obese or overweight. This has led to inflation of several health issues including diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other chronic health conditions. Treatment and management of lifestyle-related health problems and other chronic illnesses have further accelerated healthcare costs.
  1. Expensive Medical Treatments, Technology and Drugs: With rise in lifestyle and chronic health issues, the demand for advanced medical care has also increased. Most doctors and patients demand for newest medical treatments, and use of innovative technologies that are often expensive. Moreover, medical advancements over the years, have paved the way for expensive patented drugs that were once generic, inexpensive and easily affordable by an average consumer.
  1. Consumer’s Lack of Information: More often than not, people who are insured through their job, are ignorant towards their medical treatments and its relative costs. With very little information about any treatment and even for its slightest chance of success, people tend to make uninformed choices about their health care treatments, creating unnecessary hike in medical expenditure and their coverage.

Other reasons for rising health care costs include employer-sponsored health insurance policies, increasing insurer competition and uneven health insurance coverage- some are medically uninsured, while those insured tend to overuse it.

Although, the health care expenses are currently at its peak, there are many ways to control unnecessary health care costs: by adopting healthy and conscious lifestyle to control the inflation of chronic diseases; making well informed choices, and considering cost-effective techniques when opting for any medical care services in future.

Lifestyle Prescriptions- Integrating Lifestyle Medicine Into the Health Care System

As per the predictions of the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2020, almost two-thirds of all the diseases worldwide will be the outcome of poor lifestyle habits – classified as chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

These NCDs include: obesity, heart disease, different forms of cancer, type-2 diabetes, and other chronic conditions, which have been proven to be effectively treated or prevented through lifestyle medicine.

Lifestyle Prescription Medicine Health Care System

Nevertheless, doctors and health care professionals face several challenges for adapting the lifestyle medical interventions into their practice. Some of them are mentioned below:

  • Insufficient time
  • Inadequate knowledge and hence, lack of confidence
  • Poor returns/revenue
  • Lack of personal fitness levels
  • Lack of resources for start-up

Apart from the above, it is imperative to consider a process that is not only a definite solution, but simplifies the integration of lifestyle medicine protocols into the standard practice of physicians; given the very limited consultation time.

Nevertheless, the Lifestyle Prescriptions® health-care program goes a step further to wipe out these challenges and gives way to a new health-care reform. Combining the evidence-based Lifestyle Medicine protocols with META-Health and the Art and Science of Self-Healing, it provides health professionals with the appropriate training, tools and techniques.

To start with, the Lifestyle Prescriptions® program defines a powerful and precise diagnostic process based on: the body’s healing intelligence, the organ-mind-brain-lifestyle connection, and the 9 major points and phases of self-healing process.

Secondly, the Lifestyle Medicine University Foundation Training (self-study program) teaches you 7 proven protocols and the required skill-sets for quickly identifying the root-cause, which stimulates your clients healing process.

Furthermore, for easy reference, you are given 13 Organ-Brain-Mind Connection Reference Charts & Posters that includes:

  • 150+ organ tissues with the relevant conflicts and emotions,
  • 1000+ stress and regeneration phase symptoms, and
  • Major points and phases of self healing worksheets and charts.

These organ-mind-brain-lifestyle connection charts help to easily relate and link your client’s symptoms to its root cause and write effective Lifestyle Prescriptions®: Well-defined habit and behavioral interventions.

Hence, including lifestyle medicine into your health-care practice gets easier and takes minimum time.

The Lifestyle Prescriptions® Training Program can prove to be an successful investment for your practice and your client’s health as they adopt more conscious and holistic lifestyle habits.


To learn more about Lifestyle Prescriptions® Health Coach Training Program and get a free demo click here.