A century ago, life insurance experts wrote anguished articles about whether it would ever be possible to write profitable business in the South.
Some guest authors corresponded with the editors of National Underwriter to report that they had encountered men of good character and strong constitution even in Alabama and Mississippi.
Think the days of dramatic region-to-region variations in conditions such as strokes, heart attacks and cancer — the conditions targeted by typical critical illness insurance policies — are gone?
Not really.
We've pushed thoughts about how much shorter and fragile life is in Mississippi than in Alaska mostly out of mind, but the researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continue to keep track of the numbers.
Maybe a look at critical illness maps could help convince some consumers that buying a little extra affordable protection against calamity might be a good idea.
About 785,000 Americans will have their first heart attack this year, and 470,000 Americans who already have had heart attacks will have additional heart attacks this year.
Heart disease accounts for a total of almost one-quarter of all U.S. deaths.
Officials estimate the cost of treating heart disease, providing medications for people with heart disease and productivity lost due to heart disease totals about $316 billion.
The overall age-adjusted incidence of all types of cancers ranges from about 378 per 100,000 lives in Arizona on up to 523 per 100,000 lives in Rhode Island.
Incidence patterns vary.
For brain cancer, for example, incidence ranges from 3.9 per 100,000 lives in Hawaii to 8.2 in Vermont.
Incidence of leukemias ranges from 7.6 per 100,000 lives in the District of Columbia to more than twice that — about 18 per 100,000 lives — in Oklahoma.
Cancer leads to about $103 billion in direct medical costs and about $161 billion in losses related to productivity losses and premature death.
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A CDC Colorectal Cancer Public Service Announcement
Stroke MapA stroke occurs when a clot blocks the blood supply to the brain or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts.
About 610,000 Americans will have their first stroke in the coming year, and someone in the United States has a stroke every 4 minutes.
Officials estimate stroke causes about $74 billion in health care, medication and productivity loss costs.
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