Apr 04, 2014 05:23 PM EDT By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Asthma is costing New York state more than $1.3 billion a year in medical costs and lost productivity, the Businessweek reported.

A reported released by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli suggests that Medicaid and non-Medicaid hospitalizations, treatments and lost productivity related to the chronic lung disease have cost the state more than $1.3 billion annually.

In the report, DiNapoli mentioned that about asthma affects more than 1.7 million New Yorkers; Schenectady and the Bronx, one of the five boroughs in New York City, have the highest prevalence of the chronic disorder. In the past five years, Medicaid costs related to the chronic lung disease have risen more than 26 percent to $532 million in 2013, BusinessWeek reported.

"For the New Yorkers fighting this chronic disease, a flare-up can mean missing work or school and too many late night emergency room visits," DiNapoli said in a statement accompanying his report. "The state needs to better understand asthma trends and better target publicly funded initiatives, particularly for Hispanic, African-American and the poorest New Yorkers struggling with this disease."

The report also found that while the costs of asthma are up, deaths from the disease are down.  Deaths related to the chronic disorder have dropped by nearly 23 percent in the past decade, from 330 in 2002 to 255 in 2011.

DiNapoli said state health officials have made progress in expanding asthma treatment for children through school-based health centers and home visits. However, he said to combat the illness, the state should do more to focus its efforts on the communities where asthma is most common.

According to the AP, the sharp increase in asthma-related Medicaid expenditures can be tied to "the higher number of New Yorkers enrolled in the program."

Since 2009, Medicaid enrollment in the state has jumped by 20 percent to 5.7 million. 

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