Blue Cross exec paints grim health care picture
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Unfortunately, according to some disturbing statistics presented by Ron Harr, senior vice president of government programs for Blue Cross, that view is a rather bleak one. Harr said Tennessee is on the wrong end of many of the statistical lists as far as health is concerned, something that does not bode well for the future of heath care affordability in the state.
And according to Harr, one of the premier issues is prescription drugs.
“In Tennessee we love to be number one in a lot of things, but we’re number one in one thing, though, that we’re really not very proud of,” Harr said. “And that is that we are number one in prescription drug use in the world. We consume more prescription drugs per capita than any other place in America, and America consumes more than any other place in the world.”
Tennesseans lead the nation with 18 prescriptions per year for every man, woman and child while the national average was 11.
“We need to get to the bottom of why that is,” Harr said. “If we consumed all those drugs and we were a lot healthier as a result, we’d be proud of it. But unfortunately, we are also a very unhealthy state by almost any measure of healthiness.”
Tennessee is also high on the list of health care spending.
“Only nine states spend more on health care per capita than we do,” he said. “And yet, we are 42nd out of 50 states in our state of health.”
Other statistics include the fact Tennessee is 34 percent higher than the national average in communicable diseases.
“That, obviously, is not a good thing,” Harr said.
And Tennesseans didn’t fair very well in non-disease-related statistics either, showing a 28 percent higher motor vehicle crash death rate than the national average.
“And that has an impact on health care as well because of those who are injured in crashes,” Harr said.
Tennessee also rates high in some unhealthy habits with a smoking rate that is 17 percent higher than the national average.
These statistics, along with some other factors like an aging population, are a big part of why health care costs in Tennessee seem to be on an endless upward spiral.
“There are scales and rating services that look at all these different factors,” Harr said. “Tennessee is said to be 11 percent higher than the national average in its general state of unhealthiness.”
Not surprisingly, the company is anxious to turn that trend around and since diet and exercise can have a big effect on health, Harr said his company is working hard to try and get that across. But once again, Harr said Tennesseans seem to be moving in the wrong direction there too.
“We’re particularly concerned in Tennessee, when you look at the studies of children and adolescents, that instead of this problem getting better, it’s getting worse. You all are more likely, at your average age in this room, to be more physically active than most children and most teenagers,” Harr said. “That really gives us concerns about the future.”
But even with all these grim statistics, Harr said Tennesseans could turn things around. Education is the key, he said, and not just health education, but education in general.
“The more educated the population, the more healthy the population tends to be,” Harr said.