A good number of health care stats fall into the shocking category.
For example, each year 270,000-plus women in the U.S. are diagnosed with breast cancer — more than 45,000 die from the debilitating illness annually. Some 85% of breast cancers occur with no family history of it, making preventing its occurrence through diet and positive lifestyle habits impossible.
Meanwhile, the U.S. obesity rate is at a historic high — about 100 million people in the U.S. are considered obese. Alarmingly, 26% of 2 to 5 year olds are viewed as overweight, according to a recent Duke University study.
The number of people living with diagnosed diabetes in the U.S. has only remained stable the past eight or so years.
Again, shocking stuff here for such an advanced country.
So when you hear Democratic politicians play up Medicare for All proposals — while certainly a hot button issue ahead of the 2020 presidential election — keep in mind there are motives behind the initiatives besides just votes on Election Day. We as a country are nowhere near solving the major health care issues of our time despite the onset of new technologies. And with the Baby Boomer generation aging and millennials finally starting to have kids, clearly more will need to be done on the health care front.
Insert big data and artificial intelligence.
I will be talking at length about health in a 1:30 p.m. ET panel today with WW International (WW) CEO Mindy Grossman and Susan G. Komen CEO Paula Schneider at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit. Each top executive has told me in interviews ahead of our discussion how they are leveraging big data and AI in order to drive better outcomes for people. It’s impressive work. At Weight Watchers, its use of tech has led it to the ability to encourage users to continue to attend classes if it appears they are losing focus.
Over at Susan G. Komen, the use of tech is unlocking the fund-raising opportunities needed to drive the essential research that one day helps find a cure for breast cancer.
You can tune in live here....and bring a notepad.
Street Cred: Mindy Grossman
Grossman was named CEO of then Weight Watchers in April 2017, after years of successfully building the modern day HSN Inc. as CEO. Grossman has undertaken an aggressive re-branding of the now WW International with an eye towards turning the company into a broader health and wellness entity.
Prior to joining HSN, Grossman worked closely retail titans Ralph Lauren (Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger) and Phil Knight (Nike) in leadership positions at their global retail powerhouses.
Street Cred: Paula Schneider
Schneider assumed the CEO position at the breast cancer research and funding organization Susan G. Komen in September 2017. Schneider is long-time retail executive, rising the leadership ranks at Warnaco, The Gores Group, and BCBG. Schneider also admirably led American Apparel as CEO following the ouster of controversial founder Dov Charney — who left the company in financial tatters.
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and co-anchor of The First Trade at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @BrianSozzi
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