It is a widespread belief that the aging baby boomer generation is going to break the bank when it comes to medical costs.

But while it is true that the elderly on average have greater healthcare needs than younger people, it is not where the bulk of the money goes, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

There are mainly two factors that make the American healthcare system more expensive, albeit not more efficient, than any other in the world, the study found. One is that the costs of medical and administrative services as well as drugs and devices have risen astronomically over the last decade or so. The other is that treating patients with chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease is expensive, no matter what their age is. In fact, the majority of those suffering from these illnesses is under 65.

Paradoxically, today’s healthcare consumers pay a much smaller percentage of the actual costs to the system than they did 30 or 40 years ago – about 11 percent compared to 23 percent in the 1980s. That also means that most people don’t have the slightest idea how expensive medical services are because they never see 90 percent of the bills, says Dr. Hamilton Moses, chairman of the Alerion Institute, a consulting firm in Virginia, and a professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University who wrote the study report.

The other issue is the sharp increase in diet and lifestyle-related diseases, which are now affecting ever-larger parts of the population. In 2011 (the year of the most recent numbers available), treating chronic illnesses absorbed 84 percent of all medical spending, two-thirds of which went to patients younger than 65 years of age.

“Chronic illness is a problem for everyone, not just the elderly,” says Dr. Moses. “That’s another reminder to follow a healthy lifestyle to reduce your chances of developing common health problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.”

Unfortunately, our current system with its almost exclusive focus on treating existing health problems instead of preventing them is not well equipped to address these challenges.

“There are lessons to be learned from other countries,” says Dr. Moses. Chronic illness is where the misery is, it is where the money is, and it is where the greatest opportunity lies.”

A recent memo issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) points in that direction. In it, the agency urges doctors to include “intensive behavioral therapy” for obese patients in their treatment, meaning more screening for weight problems, nutritional assessment, and counseling on diet and exercise. Unlike in the past, the CMS says it will authorize reimbursement for this kind of counseling sessions from here on.

Similarly, the American Heart Association (AHA) has called for medical service providers to evaluate their patients’ physical activity habits as routinely as they check blood pressure and other risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.

Recommending measures like these are geared towards prevention and that can be a good first step, acknowledges Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center. Unfortunately, most doctors are not well versed in weight management counseling, partly because it is still not a subject matter that medical schools spend much time on.

“Bad counseling can be worse than none at all,” he writes in an opinion piece in the Huffington Post.

Still, enlisting doctors in the fight against the obesity epidemic can be a good start if it leads to a comprehensive solution that goes beyond their practice. In any case, it is better to make the current system part of the solution instead of the problem.

Timi Gustafson R.D. is a registered dietitian, newspaper columnist, blogger and author of the book “The Healthy Diner – How to Eat Right and Still Have Fun”®, which is available on her blog and at amazon.com.  For more articles on nutrition, health and lifestyle, visit her blog, “Food and Health with Timi Gustafson R.D.” (www.timigustafson.com). You can follow Timi on Twitter, on Facebook, Google+ and on Pinterest.