When the state of health in America has been discussed in this space, typically, it's been focused on "big picture" issues like the general decline in cancer rates. What I found particularly interesting and different about this recent Gallup study (a longitudinal sampling of 662 adults combining three independent surveys done in 2009), however, is how it puts a simple dollar value on a person's wellbeing (living a healthy lifestyle).

Researchers codified a patient's wellbeing based on five thriving "dimensions": Career, Community, Financial, Physical and Social. The more dimensions you have, the lower your risk of experiencing an increased disease burden. For example, thriving in all five dimensions lessened one's risk of new health burdens to 11 percent, while possessing none of them more than tripled their chances to 35.3 percent.

The same analogy applies, unfortunately, to individual health care costs too. The disease burden for the average patient thriving in no wellbeing dimensions paid nearly $7,400 annually, some 60 percent more than a person enjoying all five (about $3,000).

By the way, there is some good to be found in this report, especially if you're on the downside of these numbers but moving upward. The steepest bump in health savings/disease burden between dimensions is the nearly $1,700 difference between none (nearly $7,400) and one ($5,700).

Gallup Management Journal August 12, 2010