Chronic disease: $1 trillion a year.

Seven chronic diseases--cancer, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart disease, pulmonary conditions, and mental illness--have a total impact on the economy of $1.3 trillion annually, including $1.1 trillion in lost productivity, according to a study by the Milken Institute. That figure could be nearly $6 trillion by midcentury, the report said. "By investing in good health, we can add billions of dollars in economic growth in the coming decades," said Ross C. DeVol, the institute's director of regional economics and principal author of the report. He noted that much of this cost was avoidable. "With moderate improvements in prevention and early intervention, such as reducing the rate of obesity, the savings to the economy would be enormous." West Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Mississippi have the highest rates of chronic disease. Utah, Alaska, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona have the lowest.