10 Most Costly Disorders Among Adults in 2008

The most costly afflictions in U.S. health care in order are heart disease, cancer, mental disorders, trauma-related problems, and osteoarthritis. Next are pulmonary diseases, hypertension, diabetes, back problems and hyperlipidemia. It is not hard to see that the high cost of surgery and prescription drugs are the cause of the expensive health care system we have created. Yet the quality of our health care is lower than most industrialized nations. We need to move toward the safer, more natural approach of integrative medicine, at a much higher rate of speed. See Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Statistical Brief 331, July 2011.