Study: Obesity adds $190 billion in health costs

[chanel]

The startling economic costs of obesity, often borne by the non-obese, could become the epidemic's second-hand smoke. Only when scientists discovered that nonsmokers were developing lung cancer and other diseases from breathing smoke-filled air did policymakers get serious about fighting the habit, in particular by establishing nonsmoking zones. The costs that smoking added to Medicaid also spurred action. Now, as economists put a price tag on sky-high body mass indexes (BMIs), policymakers as well as the private sector are mobilizing to find solutions to the obesity epidemic.

"As committee chairmen, Cabinet secretaries, the head of Medicare and health officials see these really high costs, they are more interested in knowing, 'what policy knob can I turn to stop this hemorrhage?'"

“Smoking added about 20 percent a year to medical costs,” said Mayo’s James Naessens. “Obesity was similar, but morbid obesity increased those costs by 50 percent a year. There really is an economic justification for employers to offer programs to help the very obese lose weight.”

For years researchers suspected that the higher medical costs of obesity might be offset by the possibility that the obese would die young, and thus never rack up spending for nursing homes, Alzheimer’s care, and other pricey items.

That’s what happens to smokers. While they do incur higher medical costs than nonsmokers in any given year, their lifetime drain on public and private dollars is less because they die sooner. “Smokers die early enough that they save Social Security, private pensions, and Medicare” trillions of dollars, said Duke’s Finkelstein. “But mortality isn’t that much higher among the obese.”

True cost of obesity in America: $190 billion - Health - Diet and nutrition - msnbc.com

Here it comes folks.

 

[sparky]

 

[sparky]

 

[editec]

Half of America is eating itself into an early grave.

About quarter of us are smoking ourselves into one, too.

I guess the rest of Americans are going to live forever, right?

 

[chanel]

What "policy knobs" will the social engineers come up with? ( love that newspeak)

1. fat taxes
2. fast food bans
3. mandatory exercise
4. telescreens in the fridge
5. rations
6. bullying and humiliation?

 

[Douger]

I need a smoke.

 

[Katzndogz]

In 1998 the criteria changed making millions of people who arent obese now obese. Not only are not non obest suddenly and falsely obese but not muscular wihth low body fat are obese.

 

[Euro]

The startling economic costs of obesity, often borne by the non-obese, could become the epidemic's second-hand smoke. Only when scientists discovered that nonsmokers were developing lung cancer and other diseases from breathing smoke-filled air did policymakers get serious about fighting the habit, in particular by establishing nonsmoking zones. The costs that smoking added to Medicaid also spurred action. Now, as economists put a price tag on sky-high body mass indexes (BMIs), policymakers as well as the private sector are mobilizing to find solutions to the obesity epidemic.

"As committee chairmen, Cabinet secretaries, the head of Medicare and health officials see these really high costs, they are more interested in knowing, 'what policy knob can I turn to stop this hemorrhage?'"

“Smoking added about 20 percent a year to medical costs,” said Mayo’s James Naessens. “Obesity was similar, but morbid obesity increased those costs by 50 percent a year. There really is an economic justification for employers to offer programs to help the very obese lose weight.”

For years researchers suspected that the higher medical costs of obesity might be offset by the possibility that the obese would die young, and thus never rack up spending for nursing homes, Alzheimer’s care, and other pricey items.

That’s what happens to smokers. While they do incur higher medical costs than nonsmokers in any given year, their lifetime drain on public and private dollars is less because they die sooner. “Smokers die early enough that they save Social Security, private pensions, and Medicare” trillions of dollars, said Duke’s Finkelstein. “But mortality isn’t that much higher among the obese.”

True cost of obesity in America: $190 billion - Health - Diet and nutrition - msnbc.com

Here it comes folks.

Mandatory military service could be a way to stop obesity. E.g. 3-6 months mandatory military service after high school to get good knowledge about nutrition and pe. At the same time they can learn military skills and go into the reserve forces or if they want to serve in the army.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Deany needs the government to tell him what and when to eat

 

[Truthmatters]

why do you people refuse any information that shows you why this is happening?

 

[Truthmatters]

High-fructose corn syrup - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


I know this is all that yucky sciencey stuff you hate and think is evil but its how intelligent people learn about the world arround them.

 

[Mr. Peepers]

Thanks corn subsidies! Corporate apologist buffoons...

 

[auditor0007]

The startling economic costs of obesity, often borne by the non-obese, could become the epidemic's second-hand smoke. Only when scientists discovered that nonsmokers were developing lung cancer and other diseases from breathing smoke-filled air did policymakers get serious about fighting the habit, in particular by establishing nonsmoking zones. The costs that smoking added to Medicaid also spurred action. Now, as economists put a price tag on sky-high body mass indexes (BMIs), policymakers as well as the private sector are mobilizing to find solutions to the obesity epidemic.

"As committee chairmen, Cabinet secretaries, the head of Medicare and health officials see these really high costs, they are more interested in knowing, 'what policy knob can I turn to stop this hemorrhage?'"

“Smoking added about 20 percent a year to medical costs,” said Mayo’s James Naessens. “Obesity was similar, but morbid obesity increased those costs by 50 percent a year. There really is an economic justification for employers to offer programs to help the very obese lose weight.”

For years researchers suspected that the higher medical costs of obesity might be offset by the possibility that the obese would die young, and thus never rack up spending for nursing homes, Alzheimer’s care, and other pricey items.

That’s what happens to smokers. While they do incur higher medical costs than nonsmokers in any given year, their lifetime drain on public and private dollars is less because they die sooner. “Smokers die early enough that they save Social Security, private pensions, and Medicare” trillions of dollars, said Duke’s Finkelstein. “But mortality isn’t that much higher among the obese.”

True cost of obesity in America: $190 billion - Health - Diet and nutrition - msnbc.com

Here it comes folks.

I'm surprised the cost is not higher and suspect that it actually is. Trying to put an actual dollar figure on it is not easy. The fact is that anyone overweight is much more likely to need ongoing medical care. We see this with the massive increase in the number of people living with diabetes. While they may die sooner than everyone else, most do still live close to normal lifespans, but because they are not very healthy, they rack up all kinds of medical costs.

I honestly believe we need to address our public health dilemma, starting with better physical education programs in our schools as well as better education on nutrition for everyone. Americans eat like shit for the most part, and most kids do not get nearly enough exercise. We could address both of these issues in a very cost effective manner. Requiring greater physical activity for kids in school would be fairly easy. Educating people to eat better wouldn't be much harder, although I don't suggest trying to force people to eat things they don't want, just make them aware that eating somewhat healthy isn't as difficult as it sounds.

 

[auditor0007]

Half of America is eating itself into an early grave.

About quarter of us are smoking ourselves into one, too.

I guess the rest of Americans are going to live forever, right?

It's not so much about when you die, it's about how well you live the years you are alive. After smoking for over 30 years, I finally quit. I feel so much better. I can now breath normally, and because I started working out I actually lost weight. When I first tried to run, I couldn't run around the block. Now I can run a 5K in under 24 minutes, and I'm not done yet. My resting heart rate is down to 45 and my blood pressure is around 110/65.

Will I live forever? No. Will I live longer than I would have had I stayed on my destructive course of smoking and not exercising? Most likely. But no matter what, from this day forward, I will be able to enjoy life more since I can be more active and do more things, and I will probably require less visits to the doctor.

 

[auditor0007]

High-fructose corn syrup - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


I know this is all that yucky sciencey stuff you hate and think is evil but its how intelligent people learn about the world arround them.

I'm not a big fan of high fructose corn syrup. Unfortunately, there really isn't enough evidence to prove it is any worse than regular sugar. I have seen some studies that have shown that the liver metabolizes it differently and slower than regular sugar, but this is based on research with mice, so I don't know. I have cirrhosis of the liver, so I try to stay away from it. I pretty much gave up pop all together and have reduced the amount of sugar, especially in my drinks. Despite having cirrhosis, all my liver functions are normal and I am not doing anything that would make it get worse, so I should be fine so long as I don't do anything stupid like drink alcohol.

 

[Dr Grump]

No let the fat people eat more and the smokers smoke. They die younger and are therefore less of a burden on the system. They also pay taxes too so are entitled to health care etc

 

[chanel]

According to the article; smokers do die earlier and take LESS from the public system than non-smokers. If money is the reasoning behind smoking bans, it's counter-productive.

But obese people do not have shorter life spans. So in the minds of the nanny staters, that IS the justification for fast food bans and whatnot. An excellent example of "doublethink".

We are reading 1984 in my English class. I posed this question to my students who felt that mandatory exercise was an outrageous idea, but fat taxes were not. After further discussion, they came to the conclusion that anyone who buys a burger for a $1 at McDonald's would probably not be dissuaded at $1.50. It wouldn't work.

Today I am going to share the "mandatory military service" idea posted here to get their reactions.

Is obesity a problem? Certainly. Can the government fix it?

 

[Nova78]

Its a wash-all those fat asses buy $190 billion dollars worth of cheeseburgers.

 

[BillyV]

According to the article; smokers do die earlier and take LESS from the public system than non-smokers. If money is the reasoning behind smoking bans, it's counter-productive.

But obese people do not have shorter life spans. So in the minds of the nanny staters, that IS the justification for fast food bans and whatnot. An excellent example of "doublethink".

We are reading 1984 in my English class. I posed this question to my students who felt that mandatory exercise was an outrageous idea, but fat taxes were not. After further discussion, they came to the conclusion that anyone who buys a burger for a $1 at McDonald's would probably not be dissuaded at $1.50. It wouldn't work.

Today I am going to share the "mandatory military service" idea posted here to get their reactions.

Is obesity a problem? Certainly. Can the government fix it?

This study (cited below) directly contradicts that. The evidence led the researchers to conclude that lifetime healthcare costs were highest for “healthy living” people, defined as non-smokers of normal weight. You see, the “healthy living” people have access to the system for far longer than the other two groups, and will as a result incur higher lifetime costs. Smokers cost the least, with obese people in the middle (it didn’t rate obese smokers, but presumably even less). Their study had the following conclusion with respect to health care costs:

With a simulation model, lifetime health-care costs were estimated for a cohort of obese people aged 20 y at baseline. To assess the impact of obesity, comparisons were made with similar cohorts of smokers and “healthy-living” persons (defined as nonsmokers with a body mass index between 18.5 and 25). Except for relative risk values, all input parameters of the simulation model were based on data from The Netherlands. In sensitivity analyses the effects of epidemiologic parameters and cost definitions were assessed. Until age 56 y, annual health expenditure was highest for obese people. At older ages, smokers incurred higher costs. Because of differences in life expectancy, however, lifetime health expenditure was highest among healthy-living people and lowest for smokers. Obese individuals held an intermediate position. Alternative values of epidemiologic parameters and cost definitions did not alter these conclusions.

Conclusions

Although effective obesity prevention leads to a decrease in costs of obesity-related diseases, this decrease is offset by cost increases due to diseases unrelated to obesity in life-years gained. Obesity prevention may be an important and cost-effective way of improving public health, but it is not a cure for increasing health expenditures.

PLoS Medicine: Lifetime Medical Costs of Obesity: Prevention No Cure for Increasing Health Expenditure

 

[Greenbeard]

We are reading 1984 in my English class. I posed this question to my students who felt that mandatory exercise was an outrageous idea, but fat taxes were not. After further discussion, they came to the conclusion that anyone who buys a burger for a $1 at McDonald's would probably not be dissuaded at $1.50. It wouldn't work.

A high school (?) English class takes the economics world by storm by proving the ineffectiveness of Pigouvian taxes. A feel-good story.