Obesity
It is well established that obesity is a major public health epidemic and that its consequences impact all areas of the healthcare system. When discussing the issue of obesity, the focus is usually on the health impact of obesity on the patient and how that impacts not only the patient, but also others in society. Less frequently discussed, but of critical importance in healthcare planning, is the fact that obesity is taking a tremendous financial toll upon the American healthcare system. Obesity is linked to a number of diseases that are not only dangerous, but also costly. These diseases include, but are not limited to: hypertension, heart disease, Type II diabetes, and hormonal imbalances. Obesity-linked diseases can create significant financial hardships for their sufferers, but they can also take a tremendous financial toll on society.
From an individual perspective, the financial health costs of obesity can be so overwhelming that they lead to obese people being unable to afford treatment for the associated conditions. "At the individual level, obesity is associated with health care costs that average about 40% above those for normal weight individuals. Overall, obesity-related direct and indirect economic costs exceed $100 billion annually, and the number is expected to grow" (Yale Rudd Center, 2013. These costs are not limited to the healthcare sector, but expand into other areas of society. For example, obese employees miss more days at work than non-obese employees. They also filed more medical claims, disability claims, and workers compensation claims. "As a result, an average firm with 1,000 employees faces $285,000 per year in extra costs associated with obesity" (Yale Rudd Center, 2013).
Furthermore, it is important to consider that the financial costs of obesity may extend far beyond health care costs. For example, obese students may be viewed unfavorably by educators, which impacts school performance and can adversely impact their lifetime earning potential (Bowden, 2014). Furthermore, once in the workplace, the obese face discrimination, not only in hiring but in wages. The annual wage loss for a female...
"Being an obese individual in the U.S. costs $4,879 for women and $2,646 for men each year. The overall annual costs of being overweight are $524 for women and $432 for men" (Dykman, 2011). The obese may need to buy second seats on airlines and may end up spending more on gasoline than the non-obese (Bowden, 2014). Even at death, the obese may pay greater expenses, as funeral expenses are higher for the obese (Bowden, 2014). Furthermore, it is important to consider that there are financial costs associated with the shorter lifespan that often accompanies obesity; "Adding the value of lost life to these yearly costs makes the price tag even higher: $8,365 and $6,518 for women and men, respectively" (Dykman, 2011).
Finkelstein et al. discovered a link between rising obesity rates and rising medical spending. They believed that as early as 1998, the cost of overweight and obesity could have been as high as $78.5 billion, with approximately half of that total spending financed by Medicare and Medicaid (Finkelstein et al., 2009). Of course, in the face of rising medical costs during that same time period, it may be inappropriate to suggest that those rising rates are necessarily indicative of obesity and overweight taking a higher toll in medical costs than it would have previously. Even with the increase in overall medical costs and adjusting for inflation, Thorpe et al. discovered that obesity was responsible for 27% of the increase in health coasts costs between 1987 and 2001 (Thorpe et al., 2004).
While the public sector bears a large part of the financial burden for paying for obesity-related diseases, it is actually the private sector that spends the most on treating or preventing obesity, rather than treating obesity-related diseases. Part of this is due to the fact that medical interventions for obesity, though available, remain relatively rare. Even rarer are medical interventions with long-term positive health impacts. ." As a result, the costs attributable to obesity are almost entirely a result of…
