The Annual Costs of Unhealthy Lifestyles in the United States
U.S. health care spending grew 9.7 percent in 2020, reaching $4.1 trillion or $12,530 per person. As a share of the nation's Gross Domestic Product, health spending accounted for 19.7 percent [1]. 90% of the nation’s $4 trillion annual healthcare expenditures are for people with chronic and mental health conditions [2]. Poor lifestyles - inadequate sleep, high levels of stress, unhappiness, physical inactivity and poor nutrition - lead to many preventable chronic conditions. As immune systems weaken, one condition leads to two and then two leads to three and so on. 60% of adults in the US have at least one chronic disease and 40% have two or more [3]. On average, Americans with five or more chronic conditions spend 14 times more on health services than people with no chronic conditions [4].
Poor Lifestyles are also Costing Companies Enormous Amounts of Money
As the table below shows, unhealthy and unhappy workers are now costing US companies almost $16k per employee each year. These costs are often hidden and therefore overlooked. They do not appear as a single line item on a company's income statement. If they did, CEOs and CFOs would address the issue immediately.
These numbers assume that 70% of medical expenditures, absenteeism [5] and presenteeism [6] are caused by preventable lifestyle driven [7] chronic conditions. In reality the costs are higher, as these figures do not include the negative impact of unhealthy lifestyles and chronic conditions on staff turnover. Yet 50% of involuntary turnover is caused by worker stress [8] and depression [9].
The table below contains a breakdown of the underlying drivers of these costs and the magnitude of the problem presented by each individual component:
The numbers above illustrate the staggering costs created by unhealthy lifestyles. Poor lifestyles are an enormous and unsustainable burden on our health care system. Corporations have to deal with absenteeism, presenteeism [16], job turnover and retention. Poor sleep, high levels of stress, unhappiness, physical inactivity and poor nutrition are the main culprits. The good news is that a healthy lifestyle prevents 80% of chronic disease [17].
RENDLE solves this problem
We have created a data-driven and structured system to drive lifestyle improvements. We help employees understand what the minimum guidelines for healthy living are. We provide personalized education and a healthy lifestyle checklist that allows employees to see what they do well and where they can do better.
For organizations, we provide them with population KPIs and metrics, so they can see how and why their population is improving. For example, our data highlights the number of employees that meet the minimum guidelines for exercise and nutrition. We will also show the percentage of your population that is suffering from back pain or poor sleep or both. These and the many other data points we generate are essential for driving improvements within your organization.
In summary, using a structured and data driven approach to drive employee health and happiness is key to making your company a better place to work. Our process optimizes all your existing health and wellbeing efforts and allows you to identify what the current needs are within your population. We then set goals and provide actionable steps on how to best drive improvements. As a result, you will improve every part of your business along the way, from market reputation and financial performance, to innovation and creativity.
We wish you true wealth.
Sources and references:
[1] National Health Expenditure Data- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) December 2021
[2] Health and Economic Costs of Chronic Diseases - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, May 2024
[3] Worker Illness And Injury Costs U.S. Employers $225.8 Billion Annually - CDC Foundation, January 2015
[4] Multiple Chronic Conditions in the United States - Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD), RAND Corporation, May 2017
[5] Worker Illness And Injury Costs U.S. Employers $225.8 Billion Annually - CDC Foundation, January 2015
[6] Presenteeism Costs Business 10 Times More than Absenteeism - EHS Today, March 2016
[7] 5 Healthy Habits That Prevent Chronic Disease - Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic, September 2020
[8] Financial Costs of Job Stress - University of Massachusetts Lowell
[9] Depressive symptoms, professional quality of life and turnover intention in Korean nurses - International Nursing Review, July 2020
[10] Why Sleep Matters: Quantifying the Economic Costs of Insufficient Sleep - RAND Corporation, April 2016
[11a] Financial burden of job stress - University of Massachusetts Lowell
[11b] Calculating the cost of work-related stress and psychosocial risks - European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, June 2014
[12] Report: State of the American Workplace - Gallup, September 2014
[13] Workplace Health Promotion, Workplace Health Research Network (WHRN) (2014-2016) - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, June 2017
[14a] Poor employee health means slacking on the job, business losses - Department of Public Health, Brigham Young University, August 2012
[14b] The Business Case for Investment in Nutrition, The Chatham House, July 2020
[14c] Diet-Related Illnesses Cost U.S. Economy $1 Trillion Annually, Down to Earth, September 2016
[15] Estimating the cost of a smoking employee - Tobacco Control BMJ, June 2013
[16] Presenteeism Costs Business 10 Times More than Absenteeism - EHS Today, March 2016
[17] 5 Healthy Habits That Prevent Chronic Disease - Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic, September 2020
About RENDLE:
RENDLE helps organizations drive lifestyle improvements in a structured, data-driven manner. Our methodology guarantees populations will improve their sleep, stress management, happiness, exercise and nutrition while reducing back pain, smoking and other costly conditions. For more details about how we can help your organization improve contact us.