There is not question that chronic diseases account for a substantial amount of costs in a health care system. As more and more people are being inflicted with chronic illnesses such as heart disease and obesity, more attention needs to be placed on ways to prevent onset of diseases and to keeping costs low. Preventive care certainly would be an effective way to keep costs low through better health education, early detection, and better management of chronic illnesses. But I think we can do much more.

Our system oftentimes seems too aggregated for the proper treatment of serious chronic illnesses. As Craig mentioned earlier, Germany has Disease Management Programs that are specifically designed to treat specific chronic illnesses. I think implementing such a system would be beneficial to our current system. This would improve continuity of care and ensure a more effective method for treatment of various chronic illnesses.