The population of North Carolina citizens aged 65 and older is growing fast, and that means a heftier price tag for health care in the near future. Medicaid’s bill for North Carolinians 65 and older could almost triple to $6 billion in 2037.
Melanie Bush, deputy director of the Division of Medical Assistance, writes in the current issue of the North Carolina Medical Journal that annual national health care expenditures exceed $3 trillion each year, but the U.S. experiences the highest infant mortality rate and higher rates of chronic disease than its international peers.
Tobacco use is responsible for most preventable deaths and diseases in North Carolina and the country. This is why UNC-Chapel Hill researchers point to tobacco control as a means to reduce health care costs in the current issue of the North Carolina Medical Journal.