Economic Consequences of Obesity
Obesity not only poses health consequences, but considerable economic consequences as well. Those with a BMI of 25-29.9 are considered overweight and a BMI greater than 30 as obese.
These medical costs may include direct and indirect costs. Costs associated with preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services related to obesity are classified as direct. Indirect costs include those for mortality (the value of future income by premature death) and morbidity (the value of income lost from decreased productivity, restricted activity, absenteeism, and bed days).
The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity reports that in 2000, the estimated cost for obesity was $117 billion - $61 billion direct and $56 billion indirect. Most costs are attributed to type 2 coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension.
A study of national costs associated to overweight and obesity found that medical expenses for 9.1 percent of total expenditures in 1998 and may have been as much as $78.5 billion ($92.6 billion in 2002 dollars). The study found that Medicaid and Medicare paid for nearly half of these costs.
Expenses attributed to obesity alone totaled $26.8 billion in an estimate by the 1998 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and $47.5 billion in an estimate by the 1996 and 1997 National Health Interview Surveys and health care expenditures data from the National Health Accounts (NHA).
According to the 1998-2000 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), it is estimated that
Obesity may not only be hurting your health, but its hurting pocketbooks, too.
For more information, visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
