Deloitte has officially published the results from its latest report named Safeguarding Medicare’s future: Proactive care could unlock more than $500B in annual savings,” which reveals that strategic investments in disease prevention, early detection, and other proactive measures can very well save the U.S. health care system up to $2.2 trillion annually by 2040.
Going by the available details, these investments are also expected to save Medicare more than $500 billion a year on medical and prescription drug claims, and at the same time, strengthen the program’s long-term financial outlook.
“We have data-driven evidence offering a blueprint on how prevention can deliver savings in aggregate and by disease area. This is an opportunity for stakeholders to come together, invest in prevention and early detection, and enable more Americans to live longer, healthier lives while lowering health care spending,” said Andy Davis, principal, Actuarial Health Care Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP.
Talk about the given report on a slightly deeper level, we referred to how investments in proactive care could potentially save the U.S. health care system $2.2 trillion and Medicare more than $500 billion in annual prescription drug claims, but what we haven’t touched upon yet is that, from an individual perspective, this effort should save more than $7,000 per person in annual health care costs.
Next up, Deloitte survey talks to more than 62% of total health care expenditures going towards reactive care, including treatment of illnesses, injuries, or deteriorating health. This alone accounts for about $3 trillion every year.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in the way chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, represent the largest savings opportunities, with targeted interventions projected to cut more than $700 billion in annual spending.
Among other things, it ought to be acknowledged that Deloitte actuaries would go on to examine five years of medical and pharmacy claims data for nearly 60 million individuals from the Komodo Healthcare MapTM, categorizing claims using Sg2 and MediSpan. Each claim was markedly categorized by disease state and grouped into four care categories: treating conditions, managing or delaying symptoms, restoring health, as well as promoting health.
In case that wasn’t enough, the given analysis also packed together health and wellness-related expenses paid by consumers and government funded health-related activities to provide a rather comprehensive view of health care spending and potential savings.
“America’s health care system tends to be in a ‘break-fix’ cycle—waiting until people get sick before investing in their care. It’s time to consider flipping the model and focusing on prevention and proactive health management, making longer, healthier lives both achievable and affordable. Our analysis shows that this shift isn’t just about good medicine, it’s smart economics with the potential to save Medicare $500 billion annually and secure its vitality for future generations. This approach goes to the heart of challenges facing American health care today,” said Neal Batra, principal, Future of Health Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP.
