Wednesday, July 29, 2009
(photo: The Lighter Side Co.)
It is no coincidence that as the number of overweight Americans has gone up, so too has the nation’s costs for health care, according to researchers. While experts do not solely blame rising obesity rates for skyrocketing medical expenses, the growing number of overweight people is contributing significantly to a health care system struggling to contain costs.
In a paper published by Health Affairs, experts concluded that the yearly expense of caring for obese people now constitutes almost 10% of all medical spending in the United States, with an annual price tag of $147 billion. Another study reportedly determined that obesity was responsible for 27% of all health spending between 1987 and 2001.
According to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the obesity rate in the nation increased by 37% from 1998 to 2006, which resulted in the situation today, where one out of four Americans are considered obese.
According to the CDC, obesity is determined by a “body mass index” (BMI). A person who is 5’9” is considered obese if he or she weighs 203 pounds or more.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Annual Medical Spending Attributable To Obesity: Payer- And Service-Specific Estimates (by Eric A. Finkelstein, Justin G. Trogdon, Joel W. Cohen, and William Dietz, Health Affairs)
Calculate Your Body Mass Index (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute)
Comments