THE ECONOMIC BURDEN OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY

I found some pretty startling statistics about how important weight loss is for the economic success of our country. The American Cancer Society labels obesity as an epidemic - I see it more as a pandemic. You can read the entire article here.

"Although not as visible as the health consequences of overweight and obesity, the direct and indirect costs of these conditions are well documented. (Indirect costs refer to such things as wages lost by people unable to work because of illness or disability, as well as the value of future earnings lost as a result of premature death.) Controlling the nation’s skyrocketing health bill will be difficult if the epidemic of overweight and obesity is not addressed in meaningful ways.

• Estimates of the health care and other costs in 2004 dollars related to overweight and obesity range from $98 billion to $129 billion.
• The average annual health care costs for adults who are obese are 36% higher than for normal weight individuals. Costs are more than twice as high for prescription drugs, 14% higher for outpatient services, and nearly 40% higher for inpatient services.
• Taxpayers pay a significant portion of these costs since approximately half of the costs are borne by Medicare and Medicaid.36 In addition, in 1998, obesity-related costs totaled $23 billion in Medicare spending and $14 billion in Medicaid spending.
• Medical costs and lost productivity due to obesity impose costs on employers.
• The cost to business of obesity-related health care costs totaled $15.4 billion in 2002 dollars. Health insurance expenditures made up the bulk of the costs, but sick leave, life insurance, and disability insurance accounted for 39% of the total. This does not include other significant costs such as lost productivity and increased absenteeism.
• One large study found that employees who had elevated BMI had average medical costs
more than 50% higher than normal weight employees.
• Obese employees are nearly 75% more likely to experience high rates of absenteeism
(seven or more absences during a six-month period) than normal weight employees."

What are we doing to ourselves? It seems like we as Americans are removing ourselves from the personal responsibility we have for ourselves and our costs to our employers, families, and communities. Healthy weight loss can be found, but it has more to do with the psyche then it does just the food. We've become more comfortable eating junk food, working (or playing) on the computer, and sitting on the side lines watching life pass us by rather than standing up and taking a stand to change our current situations.