Health costs to continue rising unless prevention takes hold

Are you ready for a healthy increase in the cost of health care in the next ten years or so? If you're over 50, it's predicted that the cost of caring for your age group may add 25% the nation's health care bill by 2030, according to recent figures released by the CDC a few days ago.

Although that is 23 years away, people need to act now to stay healthy if they want to avoid these large cost increases, warns the CDC, which said 80% of Americans 65 or older have at least one chronic disease that could lead to premature death and disability.

By 2030, it is projected that 71 million Americans will be over 65 and will account for 20% percent of the U.S. population. That's quite a bit of health care to take care of -- with the cost of caring for older Americans at three- to five-times greater than care for younger adults. I can't even imagine the cost figure in 23 years based on these statistics -- can you?