As the first members of the Baby Boom generation turn 60, a national dialogue is gaining momentum concerning the impact that our exploding senior demographics will have on our already over-burdened health care system. Our society is aging, living longer, and facing a new challenge of unprecedented levels of chronic disease. The public and policymakers are understandably worried about soaring health care costs and what the future will bring.

While people are living longer, healthier lives as a result of ever-improving medical care, we are also seeing that increased life-spans are revealing chronic disease, which disproportionately affect the elderly. Almost half of all Americans have a chronic condition, and by 2030, the number of Americans with one or more chronic conditions is expected to increase by 37%.

The personal and financial toll that these diseases impose is enormous, with chronic conditions often requiring ongoing, expensive medical care. With chronic disease often come functional limitations, dependency, and increased medical bills. Chronic disease also consumes far more than its share of our nation’s health care resources because people with chronic illnesses visit their doctors more, stay longer in hospitals, take more prescription drugs, and require more medical care across the board.

Because chronic disease tends to strike later in life, this is an issue that is coming into focus as our nation faces the doubling of its older population in the next 25 years. Vulnerability to chronic disease increases exponentially after middle age, as the risk for many age-related conditions doubles every five to seven years after age 50. By age 65, nearly nine out of ten people have at least one chronic condition.

Health care expenditures in the United States rose to $1.9 trillion in 2004 and were increasing by nearly 8 percent per year. With figures like this health care is already in the national spotlight, but as this vital debate continues and calls for cost-cutting measures continue to dominate, we must shine the spotlight on the true driver of costs – chronic disease.

With people with chronic conditions accounting for 83% of all health care spending, we must focus on reducing these chronic diseases with medical innovations. Medical innovations have already proven their value in not only improving the length and quality of life, but also in helping to contain medical costs. Resulting improvements in health care often far outweigh increased spending – every dollar invested in health care produces up to three dollars in health care gains.

As we discuss and plan the direction we must take to keep our country’s health care system alive, we must turn to the potential of medical innovation in reducing mortality, increasing independence and productivity, cutting down on hospital stays and doctors visits, and preventing, treating, and curing more debilitating diseases. We must shift the debate away from policies and solutions that will save short-term dollars but shortsightedly put our future health at risk, and turn instead to investing in research that will yield significant returns. We need a long-term vision that addresses the impact of chronic diseases and reduces their impact on our nation’s pocketbook and on our lives.