Improve Your Health ... and Help Save $130 Billion

By Editorial Staff

It's a simple correlation proven by research: If your blood pressure goes up, so do your health care costs. According to a new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, annual health care costs for U.S. adults suffering from high blood pressure can be more than $1,900 higher than costs incurred by adults without high BP. Extrapolated from the individual to the population, that's more than $130 billion – yes, we said billion – in extra health care expenditures attributable to high blood pressure.

Even more disturbing, this 12-year study relied the "old" definition of high blood pressure (140/90), not the 2017- definition (130/80). In other words, if the same study were conducted starting today and using the updated definition of high BP, even more Americans would likely be diagnosed with high blood pressure, only adding to the health care burden. By "burden," we're talking not only about the financial burden of added health care costs, individually and nationally, but also the burden of poor health, disease ... and don't forget overmedication stemming from high BP.

The study illuminated that multifaceted burden clearly, finding that adults with high blood pressure not only had 2.5 times the inpatient health care costs and nearly two times the outpatient costs, but also nearly three times the costs for prescription medications compared to adults without high BP.

Keeping your blood pressure down keeps your health care costs down, pure and simple. Oh, and it also keeps you significantly healthier than when it's elevated. Talk to your doctor for more information about the dangers of high BP and how to keep your blood pressure in the safe range.