Obesity Is Going to Cost Us

Chew on this.

Obesity is growing faster than any previous public health problem that the nation has faced. And if current trends continue, 43 percent of American adults will be obese by 2018, driving related health care costs to $344 billion, four times the amount spent now.

More than half the adult populations of Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, and South Dakota will be obese, adding to health care costs in those states.

The findings from Emory University health care economist Ken Thorpe confirm what business groups have been saying this year: Obesity is an issue that needs to be curbed if health care inflation is going to be kept under control.

In fact, the study also found that if obesity levels stay steady at their current rates, the U.S. could save $820 per adult, or almost $200 million over the next nine years.

The National Business Group on Health estimates more than a quarter of annual medical premiums are related to obesity, a trend driving up health insurance premiums. A number of big employers provide incentives to get their workers to shed pounds.

Thorpe, the executive director of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, suggests a number of remedies, including more employer wellness programs and education.

If nothing is done, even relatively healthy states like Colorado will see a big jump in costs. Obesity-related health care spending in Colorado, which boasts one of the leanest populations in the country, will rise from $235 per person last year to $864 per person by 2018, the study estimates. In Missouri, that same metric will rise from $450 per person last year to $1,834 in 2018.