The Costs of Aging and Behaviors

Increased age and our lifestyle behaviors have a major impact on healthcare costs. Like an older car, an older body has parts that are more likely to need repair or replacement. We will continue to age but we can slow the process of aging with mental and physical exercises. As a society, we are overweight, poorly fed, highly stressed and lack exercise. These behaviors along with smoking will lead to huge increases in our total medical costs in the years to come.

The High Cost of Drugs

New pharmaceuticals have had a major impact on health and life, but many of the newer drugs are prohibitively expensive. Some are marginally valuable. Others are superb drugs but are all too often used in lieu of making life style changes that would eliminate or at least modify the underlying problem. We need to change our approach to expecting a drug to solve our problems when simpler, less expensive approaches would work even better.

The High Cost of Medical Technology

Medical technologies are often very expensive. The question at hand is are they worth it or do they just drive up the already high cost of medical care? In this podcast we explore how some technologies are very useful but need to be used only when necessary.