Three in four US adults live with at least one chronic condition, consuming over $4 trillion in government health care spending. In many cases, these conditions go undetected and untreated until they become severe. The result? A system that is upside down, resulting in enormous spending to treat late-stage symptoms instead of catching disease early, when treatment is cheaper, more effective, and far less devastating to patients.
Few conditions expose this dysfunction as starkly as chronic kidney disease (CKD).
More than 35 million Americans have CKD, yet 9 in 10 don’t know it. That lack of awareness isn’t just a medical failure; it’s a financial one. Nearly one in four Medicare dollars, roughly $95 billion each year, are spent on care for patients with CKD. And that figure excludes the enormous cost of end-stage renal disease (ESRD), when kidneys fail, and treatment options are limited to dialysis or transplant. At that point, lives are already upended, personal productivity diminishes, and costs skyrocket. It’s an unfortunate and dangerous example of our broader national problem. One thing is clear: this path is unsustainable—for patients individually and our nation as a whole.
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