Cancer
• Number of deaths in 2011 — 571,950
• Number of living Americans who have been diagnosed with cancer (as of 2008) — 11,957,599
• New cases of cancer in 2011 — 1,596,670
• New cases of breast cancer in 2011 — 232,620
• New cases of colorectal cancer in 2011 — 141,210
• Total cost of cancer cases in 2010 — $226.8 billion
Cardiovascular disease
• Number of deaths from major cardiovascular disease in 2009 — 779,367
• Number of cases of heart failure in 2008 — 5.7 million
• Number of cases of high blood pressure from 2005 to 2008 — 68 million
• Number of heart attacks or fatal coronary heart disease in 2008 — 1.3 million
• Total cost of cardiovascular disease in 2011 — $444.2 billion
Health insurance
• Cost of poor health among uninsured people in 2004 —$125 billion
• Proportion of personal bankruptcy filings due to medical expenses — 50 percent
• From 1999 to 2009, the percentage of children ages 0-17 who had health insurance improved. However, for adults ages 18 to 44 and 45 to 64, the percentage decreased.
• In 2009, Blacks and American Indians and Alaska Natives under age 65 were less likely than Whites to have health insurance (81 percent and 68 percent compared with 83 percent).
• From 2002 to 2008, people ages 18 to 44 were least likely to have a usual primary care provider.
Priority populations
• For nine quality measures, the outcomes gap between Blacks and Whites grew smaller, indicating improvement. However, for two measures the gap grew larger:
- Breast cancer diagnosed at advanced stage (regional, distant stage, or local stage with tumor greater than 2 cm) per 100,000 women age 40 and over.
- Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.
• For two measures, the gap between Asians and Whites grew smaller. For one measure the gap grew larger:
- Children 0-40 lb. for whom a health provider gave advice within the past two years about using child safety seats when riding in a car.
• For one measure the gap between American Indians and Alaska Natives grew smaller. For two measures, the gap grew larger:
- Adults age 50 and over who ever received a colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy or proctoscopy.
- People with difficulty contacting their usual source of care over the telephone.
• For six measures, the gap between Hispanics/Latinos grew smaller. No measure showed worsening disparities.
