Cost of Obesity: Health Suffers, So Does Wallet

Obesity puts a drag on the wallet as well as health, especially for women.

Doctors have long known that medical bills are higher for the obese in the United States, but that is only a portion of the real-life costs.

George Washington University researchers added in things like employee sick days, lost productivity, even the need for extra gasoline - and found the annual cost of being obese is $4,879 for a woman and $2,646 for a man.

That is far more than the cost of being merely overweight - $524 for women and $432 for men, concluded the report being released Tuesday, which analyzed previously published studies to come up with a total.

Why the difference between the sexes? Studies suggest larger women earn less than skinnier women, while wages don't differ when men pack on the pounds. That was a big surprise, said study co-author and health policy professor Christine Ferguson.

Researchers had expected everybody's wages to suffer with obesity, but "this indicates you're not that disadvantaged as a guy, from a wage perspective," said Ferguson, who plans to study why.

Then consider that obesity is linked to earlier death. While that is not something people usually consider a pocketbook issue, the report did average in the economic value of lost life. That brought women's annual obesity costs up to $8,365, and men's to $6,518.

The report was financed by one of the manufacturers of gastric banding, a type of obesity surgery.

The numbers are in line with other research and are not surprising, said Dr. Kevin Schulman, a professor of medicine and health economist at Duke University who wasn't involved in the new report.

Two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese, and childhood obesity has tripled in the past three decades. Nearly 18 percent of adolescents now are obese, facing a future of diabetes, heart disease and other ailments.

Looking at the price tag may help policymakers weigh the value of spending to prevent and fight obesity, said Schulman, pointing to factors like dietary changes over the past 30 years and physical environments that discourage physical activity.

"We're paying a very high price as a society for obesity, and why don't we think about it as a problem of enormous magnitude to our economy?" he asks. "We're creating obesity and we need to do a man-on-the-moon effort to solve this before those poor kids in elementary school become diabetic middle-aged people."

A major study published last year found medical spending averages $1,400 more a year for the obese than normal-weight people. Tuesday's report added mostly work-related costs - things like sick days and disability claims - related to those health problems.

It also included a quirky finding, a study that calculated nearly 1 billion additional gallons of gasoline (3.8 billion liters) are used every year because of increases in car passengers' weight since 1960.

[rf35]

Of course it affects the wallet...they gotta pay for all that food they're shoveling into their gullets.

[formrusmcsgt]

A major study published last year found medical spending averages $1,400 more a year for the obese than normal-weight people.
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Health insurance premiums should be weight-based.

[jmn197951]

I stopped reading this as soon as I got to who funded this completely BS study. The company that makes the band so you can't eat. Come on people, wake up! They only did this ridiculous "study" so they can convince more people to buy there product that allows them to never eat normal again! Is Obama behind all these articles against the "fat" people of the world? How about people that consume alcohol, they have health problems from that too!

[baku1120]

To qualify for food stamps a household's gross monthly income cannot exceed 130 percent of the Federal poverty guidelines. The 2009 Poverty Guidelines for a family of 4 is $22,000, so they would lose that help if they make $28,600. The maximum allotment for a four person family is $668.

Could any of you clueless self-righteous chumps survive on such that meager income? You probably spent that much last year on lattes at Starbucks while living at home with your mommy and daddy.

[baku1120]

A household's GROSS monthly income cannot exceed 130 percent of the Federal poverty guidelines to qualify for food stamps. Poverty Guidelines for a family of 4 is $22,000.

Could any of you clueless chumps survive on so little income? You probably spent that much last year on lattes from Starbucks while you lived at home with mommy & daddy.

[Molly-Pchr]

Oh, here we go again, all the health care expense problems, etc., et al, are the fault of one group. I'm a jogger, gardener, hard worker, enjoy my food, give thanks and do all in moderation. My health nut friends who have to run more than 10 miles a day and eat pomegranate seeds for lunch, no joke, are constantly at the doctor, constantly at the chiropractor, and if you think their unhealthy fear of any sickness and death isn't costing you and me a pretty penny, you had better wake up. Sure, obesity is a problem, but it's unfortunately due to a food addiction, for which the evidence is readily visible. The smokers, the porn addicts, the alcoholics (social drinkers) the people that run to the doctor for every little itch are costing the health industry just as much. And not for nothing, I run, but I don't need to get attention on the street where I'd be breathing in all the carbon monoxide. My healthy friends who talk like many of you are constantly sick. I think they worry too much! So cut the bologna...in fact, have some. Worrying about it will kill you faster than eating it.

[rdupuy11]

The issue of obesity is a complex one. Nobody wants to attack anyone's self esteem, but I do take issue with trying to say someone with a serious health ailment is 'attractive'. Leprosy is not attractive, neither is obesity. It's not normal, in the sense of what's healthy - even if its extremely common.

I agree we should, as a nation pay great attention to this issue. It's not going to be easy for people to turn this back as individuals - the problems is systematic, we have bad food. And removing access to bad food, and replacing it with -almost always more expensive, and even scarce - healthy food is going to be a challenge.

[chief77777]

People in USA are trying to make FAT as normal. They overlook Diabetis, heart problems, joint replacement later in life, some cancers, and just plain rudeness when you share an airplane seat. Giant portions, too much sugar and other sweetners, fast fatning foods and poor self-control over eating is hurting health and costing tax payers fortunes in Health Care costs including Medi-care.

[rdupuy11]

disagree, they don't need to study it, they already know. Money is fungeable. If you give someone free food, they don't have to spend their money on food, they spend their money on something else.

You don't have to claim zero dollars to be poor. If you even make 10,000 per year - plenty enough to buy beer and cigarettes - you are under the federal poverty guidelines.

It would be impossible to stop the poor from buying legal products like beer and cigarettes.

[blk914]

The most obese people I see get their groceries swiping a food stamp card but always have cash for beer and cigarettes. The govt needs to do a study on THAT!

[makemyday2day]

What is "HCG"? Is this an over-the-counter product that begins with "hydroxy"? If so, be aware of the dangers of using these products. Some of them contain very high amounts of caffeine which create racing heart rates. The best 'diet' is to eat less and exercise such as walking daily.