Vern Buchanan chairs hearing on saving health care costs through preventative care

Vern Buchanan.

As Americans gain weight, it creates more costs than just to their personal health. U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan says it’s creating a financial burden for the entire national health care system.

“With federal health care spending at more than $4 trillion per year and approximately 42% of adults facing obesity, it is clear that much more needs to be done to address the health care crisis,” the Longboat Key Republican said.

Buchanan, Chair of the House Ways and Means Health Committee, held a hearing last week on “Investing in a Healthier America,” with federal lawmakers hearing testimony on chronic disease prevention and treatment.

“I was thrilled to chair this important hearing on addressing the root causes of chronic disease and ways that Congress can work together to save taxpayers money while ensuring people have the tools necessary to live longer, healthier and happier lives.”

Beyond just federal spending, experts said obesity in America will bear a $9.1 trillion cost on taxpayers over the next decade in the form of treating cancer, diabetes and heart disease. That estimate comes from a Joint Economic Committee report, which found that those health challenges are a major portion of all projected Medicare spending. U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, an Arizona Republican, led Republicans on that research.

“A bunch of the people on the Left and the Right came to me and said, I can’t believe you were willing to say it, but it’s true,” Schweikert said in the committee.

“You have a country where we are about to have the fifth year in a row where prime age males are dying younger. The Milken Institute says 47% of all U.S. health care is tied to obesity, and in many ways, we also have data that in four years, more than half of America will actually be up against that number. Diabetes now is 33% of all U.S. health care spending, 31% within Medicare.”

Buchanan said he was troubled that the U.S. government spends more than it ever has on health care, yet outcomes for Americans are getting worse. He was especially concerned to see child obesity now at 20%.

“That’s wrong. That’s sad,” he said. “We can do a lot better.”

Mark Hyman of the Institute for Functional Health, who recently hosted Buchanan on his Doctor’s Farmacy podcast, said the government could improve situations by focusing on preventive care.

“The science and the data are clear that we can solve this chronic disease epidemic by focusing on its root causes. I practice root cause medicine,” Hyman said. “What is the root cause? In America, we mop up the floor while the sink overflows. How do we turn off the faucet, so we deal with the root cause of the problem, which is the food that’s driving the chronic disease epidemic. I think there are a lot of levers that the government can pull. … I think a deep understanding of food as medicine is very important.”

Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a medical doctor by profession, also testified to the committee on the best areas where federal spending could address the problem. He was specifically asked how American can do a better job diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it efficiently.

“In terms of the companies that I work with in the field, there’s a huge gap between if you have a positive result or a negative result, what happens? How do you get to that facility, to that critical access hospital, to the local hospital, to the hospital two or three hours away. And that’s where an opportunity, that gap exists for things like telemedicine, patient navigation.”