America's communities enjoy the most advanced health care in the world. This is a blessing not to be taken lightly, as many of the world's citizens suffer for lack of the most basic care.

But Americans pay for it dearly -- far more per capita than in any other nation in the world. This tremendous burden is carried by business, government and individuals, but ultimately its weight falls on the citizens of every community in the form of higher taxes, lower pay, or reductions in other benefits.

It is a complicated problem. There are numerous schools of thought as to its origins and causes, including increasingly sophisticated medical technology; a computerized billing process which insulates consumers from the costs and leads to an attitude of nonchalance toward consumption of health care services; the fee-for-service system which encourages some providers to excessive treatment for profit; the threat of malpractice law suits which can lead to unnecessary testing; and the added cost of administration.

While there is some truth to each of those arguments, one indisputable cause of high health care costs is poor lifestyle choices. This is one root of the problem which can be addressed by community leaders and health care providers.

The Community Health Audit™ measures the cost of lifestyle and behavior to a community by `analyzing its hospital discharge data. The following report presents those costs for the Evansville Community, broken down by lifestyle/behavior health risk.

Armed with this information, community leaders can design outreach programs to change high-cost behaviors, yielding savings to the community. Savings in health care dollars and in quality and years of life.