What are the chances of becoming ill?
• Heart disease and stroke are among the leading causes of death for U.S. women & men. Cardiac deaths have increased dramatically among people younger than age 35.
• Every 30 seconds a new cancer is diagnosed in the U.S.
• Every year, about 795,000 people in the U.S. have a stroke. About 3/4 of these are first strokes; 1/4 are recurrent strokes.
• Currently, one in four deaths in the United States is due to cancer.3 How financially devastating can it be?
• Most bankruptcies filed because of illness are filed by people who do have health insurance .
• Today the cost of treating Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia is estimated at $109 billion.
• The estimated cost of treating heart disease today is $102 billion. Cancer treatment is around $77 billion.
• 2 percent of cancer patients were driven into bankruptcy by their illness and its treatment.
