Chronic diseases can take away a person's quality of life or his or her ability to work. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 7 out of 10 Americans who die each year, or more than 1.7 million people, die of a chronic disease. In Illinois, studies have indicated that during the study period the State has spent more than $12.5 billion in health care dollars to treat chronic diseases in our State. The financial burden for Illinois from the impact of lost work days and lower employee productivity during the same time period related to chronic diseases resulted in an annual economic loss of $43.6 billion. These same studies have concluded that improvements in preventing and managing chronic diseases could drastically reduce future costs associated with chronic disease in Illinois and that the most effective way to trim healthcare spending in Illinois and across the U.S. is to take measures aimed at preventing diseases before we have to treat them. Furthermore, by addressing health disparities and by targeting chronic disease prevention and health promotion services toward the highest risk groups, especially in communities where racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic factors indicate high rates of these diseases, the goals of improving the overall health status for all Illinois residents can be achieved. Health promotion and prevention programs and activities are scattered throughout a number of State agencies with various streams of funding and little coordination. While the State has been looking at making significant changes to healthcare coverage for a portion of the population, in order to have the most effective impact, any changes to the healthcare delivery system in Illinois should take into consideration and integrate the role of prevention and health promotion in that system.
20 ILCS 2310/2310-76