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Monday, August 01, 2011

The Debt Crisis in America and HR 1119 The National Nurse Act of 2011


Many have asked about the cost benefit ratio of HR 1119 The National Nurse Act of 2011. The potential return on investment that could result with passage of this legislation is tremendous. Take Type 2 diabetes as an example of one preventable disease. The CDC website reports that in 2007, the most recent year that statistics were collected, 25.8 million Americans who were diagnosed with diabetes cost $174 billion for the care they received. This is an average cost of $6744 per patient.

Given that there are 79 million people at risk for diabetes, the resulting cost would be (25.8 million + 79 million) times $6744 = $ 706.79 billion, an increase of $532.79 billion!

If the National Nurse for Public Health could engage others in delivering proven successful programs that work to prevent Type 2 DM, and could stop even 1% of those at-risk from developing diabetes, this would represent a savings of 0.01 times $532.79 billion = $5.33 billion. This could also be calculated by saying that 1% of 79 million = 790,000 people, which would save 790,000 times $6744 = $5.33 billion.

Prevention saves money and more importantly, eliminates needless suffering and saves lives. Let's all make a concerted effort and make sure that HR 1119 The National Nurse Act of 2011 is enacted into law soon.

The National Nursing Network Organization Team—Monday, August 01, 2011  

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