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While we're on the topic of health-care here's some things to consider:<br> <br> * About 10% of all health-care spending in the USA is obesity-related.<br> * Between 10 and 15% of all health-care spending in the USA is smoking-related.<br> * Health-care costs in the USA averaged $6,280 per person in 2004.<br> * Half of the population spends little or nothing on health care, while 5 percent of the population spends almost half of the total amount. Among this group, annual medical expenses (exclusive of health insurance premiums) equaled or exceeded $11,487 per person.<br> * In contrast, the 50 percent of the population with the lowest expenses accounted for only 3 percent of overall U.S. medical spending, with annual medical spending below $664 per person. Thus, those in the top 5 percent spent, on average, more than 17 times as much per person as those in the bottom 50 percent of spenders.<br> * The elderly (age 65 and over) made up around 13 percent of the U.S. population in 2002, but they consumed 36 percent of total U.S. personal health care expenses.<br> * A new study from the Mayo Clinic reports that intensive care accounts for 30 to 40 percent of hospital spending, with the majority of care given to elderly patients with chronic conditions.
By mpercy

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