Obesity leading to billions in medical spending
A study released today in the public health journal Health Affairs detailed the financial impact of obesity on the United States health care system from 1998 to 2006. The buzz of health care reform has led many to try and figure out where the money could come from. Taxing? Hopefully not. Getting rid of insurance fraud and abuse? Potentially, but that would only be about a 3% savings. Decreasing physician salaries and hospital budgets? Counterproductive. Ah ha! Reseachers discovered that obesity since 1998 has led to nearly $40 billion dollars in health care spending. This includes perscription drug costs, which topped out at $7 billion. The group estimates that with the incidence of obesity rising, costs will most likely have reached $147 billion dollars by 2008 (these studies have to be done in retrospect, as the data analysis is not possible until the year is over, and trends are typically seen over more than one year).
The most disconcerting part of their paper is when they show that in 1998, half of the $78.5 billion of medical spending due to obesity was paid for by Medicaid and Medicare. If that is the case, then the researchers are correct in pointing out that a key to health care reform is going to have to focus on obesity. It is calculated in this study that in the years between 1998 and 2006, the rate of obesity in the United States increased by 37%. That’s 25.1% of our population.
The analysis found in this paper is not an attempt to attack obese people, but to illuminate how the medical problems caused by obesity are draining our health care system of its money. Obesity is associated with some of the most expensive medical conditions possible: type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and cancer. Obesity is not just a problem of weight gain; it is a problem of causing the body to divert to its worst state of being, often leading to more than one if not all of those conditions mentioned. We must avoid playing the blame game, and treat this issue as one of general concern both for the health care of our population, and the economic welfare of our population. This study tells me that obesity has to be a center of change in our country. Employers should provide incentives for losing weight and staying healthy, and obesity must be treated early in childhood. I don’t know about you, but next time you think that obesity is a topic that can’t be addressed because of stigma, remember this: $147 billion dollars in 2008.
Related posts:
- Obesity as Risk Factor for Swine Flue—No Surprise
- Tort or Tale? How Medical Litigation is Stopping Health Care Reform
