A 76 billion-dollar medical bill is enough to give anyone a serious heart condition. The Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) released a report earlier this week, suggesting the cost of the 10 most expensive health conditions in the US was more than $500 billion to treat in the year 2005.

According to the AHRQ, which is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the nation's 10 most expensive medical conditions cost about $500 billion to treat in 2005. That $500 billion paid for visits to clinics and emergency rooms, doctors offices, hospital stays, home health care and prescription drugs.

A brief summary appeared on newswise and more information regarding medical expenditure panel surveys can be viewed on the ahrq government website.

Estimated spending for the top 10 most expensive conditions (2005) included: heart conditions ($76 billion), trauma disorders ($72 billion), cancer ($70 billion), mental disorders ($56 billion), asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ($54 billion), high blood pressure ($42 billion), type 2 diabetes ($34 billion), osteoarthritis and other joint diseases ($34 billion), back problems ($32 billion), and normal childbirth ($32 billion). The $56 billion spent on mental disorders included depression.

That's a lot of money treating symptoms. Quite a few health-care experts would argue that heart conditions, cancer, depression, asthma, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, and many back problems can be prevented (or at least significantly reduced) by incorporating proper nutrition, regular exercise, and a number of proactive approaches towards being healthy (ahem... chiropractic).

Trauma disorders may be difficult to prevent as most instances occur without warning. Normal childbirth is one of those health conditions we just have to deal with, but it could certainly be addressed more affordably.

Scanning through previous news archives I located articles relating to asthma and children, breathing easier without medication, and a 2003 article related to asthma cases doubling.

On the topic of heart conditions there was this article on cardiovascular disease & HRT, this one on prayer and patient recovery, and this post titled: Everything Affects Everything.

On the topic of back pain there's this post on sitting up straight, this one on my aching back, a post on proper posture at work, snow shoveling as a cause of back pain, and an article on those that don't have a clue.

Midwives and chiropractors working in pediatrics probably got a chuckle out of seeing normal childbirth listed as a medical condition. Folks interested in these topics may want to check out this article on pregnancy, this one on home births with midwives, or this one about chiropractors in hospital delivery rooms.

As a resource, here are searches for diabetes related posts, Cancer related posts, or depression related posts.