Meditation Can Reduce Health Care Costs

Stress can contribute to a wide array of health problems, and finding ways to reduce stress could presumably impact overall health care costs as well. A new study suggests that meditation can do just that.

According to the research, people with consistently high health care costs experienced a 28 percent cumulative decrease in physician fees after an average of five years practicing the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation technique (TM) compared with their baseline.

The study is published in the September/October 2011 issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion. Experts have recognized that in most populations, a small fraction of people account for the majority of health care costs.

In the U.S., the highest spending 10 percent in the general population incurred 60 percent to 70 percent of total medical expenditures annually.

In the Medicare population, the highest spending 5 percent incurred 43 percent of total Medicare costs, and the highest spending 25 percent of seniors accounted for 85 percent of total expenses. Individuals in these groups have consistently high medical bills year after year. For many, chronic stress is the number one factor contributing to high medical expenses. Stress reduction may help reduce these costs.

This new study compared the changes in physician costs for 284 consistent high-cost participants—142 Transcendental Meditation practitioners with 142 non-practitioners, over five years in Quebec, Canada.

The non-TM subjects were randomly selected from Quebec health insurance enrollees with the same age, sex, and region to match the TM participant profiles.

The TM participants decided to begin the technique prior to choosing to enter the study. In the year before the intervention began, there were no significant differences between the groups in payments to physicians.

During the five-year assessment period, the TM group’s annual health care costs declined significantly (p = 0.004), while the comparison group’s utilization showed no significant changes. After the first year, the TM group decreased 11 percent, and after 5 years, their cumulative reduction was 28 percent (p = 0.001).

The primary measure for assessing the effectiveness of TM practice in decreasing medical costs was the fees paid by the Quebec health insurance agency to private physicians in all settings for treating study participants.

In Canada and U.S., physician payments have been 20 percent of national health expenditures. This study’s findings were similar to earlier ones. In a previous Canadian study, the TM group exhibited reduced medical expenses between 5 percent and 13 percent relative to comparison subjects each year for 6 consecutive years.

In a subsequent Canadian study of senior citizens, the TM group’s five-year cumulative reduction for people aged 65 years and older relative to comparison subjects was 70 percent. In a sample of American health insurance enrollees, the TM participants had reduced rates of illness in all disease categories. An 11-year, cross-sectional study in Iowa found that subjects age 45 and over who practiced the TM technique had 88 percent fewer hospital days compared with controls. Their medical expenditures were 60 percent below the norm.

Other studies, including randomized clinical trials, indicate the TM technique can improve physical and mental health, decrease tobacco use, reduce substance abuse, and decrease other unhealthy habits and risk factors that lead to chronic disease and costly treatments.

"This article has major policy significance for saving Medicare and Medicaid without cutting benefits or raising taxes," said the paper’s author, Robert E. Herron, Ph.D. "Almost no intervention for cost containment has decreased medical expenditures by 28 percent over five years from a baseline. Now, it may be possible to rescue Medicare and Medicaid by adding coverage for learning the Transcendental Meditation technique."

Transcendental Meditation is a specific mental technique which is easy and enjoyable. It is practised for 15-20 minutes twice a day, giving extra deep rest to mind and body, leaving you refreshed, relaxed and revitalised.

Mental benefits include: more creativity, reduced anxiety, greater positivity, improved learning ability.

Health benefits include: normalised blood pressure, less insomnia, reduced hypertension, reduced use of all drugs, more stamina, increased longevity, improved general wellbeing.

Social benefits include: better personal relationships, increased job satisfaction, increased productivity.

Since 1970 the TM technique has been the subject of extensive scientific research with the findings (over 600 studies) published in leading journals worldwide. (Review at: www.doctorsonTM.org)

Transcendental Meditation is the registered trademark of the Maharishi Foundation Inc., a non-profit NZ educational organisation: www.tm.org.nz

ENDS

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