From our Oct. 2, 2012 post "Buffett Bets on the Boomers: End Stage Renal Disease (BRK.B; DVA)":
Around ten years ago a sharp young analyst gave me his five-minute kidneys and dialysis pitch. It made quite an impression on me, I remember it to this day. Unfortunately for him and his firm we were just coming off the Dotbomb crash and everything looked really cheap so I filed the idea under "stuff I'll get to".And last year:
Davita is up seven-fold since that day, $103.44 at the close. Fresenius, the largest in the industry is up ten-bagger in ten years, no lost decade there..
CDC Report: 100 Million Americans Either Diabetic or On Their Way
There's an opportunity in here, somewhere. The direct costs of healthcare for diabetics has to be five grand a year per. That gives us a half-trillion dollar market to address. Plus, who really wants a countryside full of blind amputees on dialysis?Here's the latest:from the Milken Institute, Oct 30, 2018:
Economic impact of excess weight now exceeds $1.7 trillion, new Milken Institute report reveals
Costs include $1.24 trillion
in lost productivity, according to study documenting role of obesity and
overweight in chronic diseases
LOS ANGELES, Tuesday, October 30, 2018—The impact of obesity and overweight on the U.S. economy has eclipsed $1.7 trillion, an amount equivalent to 9.3 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, according to a new Milken Institute report on the role excess weight plays in the prevalence and cost of chronic diseases.There is opportunity everywhere, if you just look.
The estimate includes $480.7 billion in direct health-care costs and $1.24 trillion in lost productivity, as documented in America’s Obesity Crisis: The Health and Economic Impact of Excess Weight. The study draws on research that shows how overweight and obesity elevate the risk of diseases such as breast cancer, heart disease, and osteoarthritis, and estimates the cost of medical treatment and lost productivity for each disease.
For example, the treatment cost for all type 2 diabetes cases – one of the most prevalent chronic diseases connected to excess weight – was $121 billion and indirect costs were $215 billion. On an individual basis, that comes to $7,109 in treatment costs per patient and $12,633 in productivity costs.
America’s Obesity Crisis assesses the role excess weight plays in the prevalence of 23 chronic diseases and the economic consequences that result. To mention a few, obesity and overweight are linked to:
The findings suggest that more effective weight-control strategies could reduce both the health and economic burdens of chronic diseases, according to co-author Hugh Waters, director of health economics research at the Milken Institute.
- 75 percent of osteoarthritis cases
- 64 percent of Type 2 diabetes cases
- 73 percent of kidney disease cases
“Despite the billions of dollars spent each year on public health programs and consumer weight-loss products, the situation isn’t improving,” Waters said. “A new approach is needed.”
The impact of obesity on chronic disease is not limited to the stress that added weight places on joints and the cardiovascular system. For example, research indicates that hormones secreted by fat cells may trigger inflammation and increase insulin resistance. These reactions can, in turn, contribute to greater risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers....MORE
Although maybe not in DaVita at the moment, the stock seems to have stalled since 2016.
