The cost of obesity in the United States

The Cost of Obesity in the US

Obesity is described as the fastest growing public health challenge the nation has ever faced. In fact, if obesity rates continuing growing at the rate they currently are, by 2018 103 million American adults will be classed as obese.

With that figure in mind, the US is expected to spend $344 billion on healthcare costs attributed to obesity in 2018.

By 2018, obesity will account for more than 21 percent of healthcare spending, with a cost of $1,425 per person, which is a rise from $361 per adult in 2009.

Today, it is estimated that $79,438 million dollars is spent due to obesity in the United States.

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Looking at America more closely, Oklahoma is expected to have the highest obesity rate in the country by 2018, with Colorado having the lowest obesity rate. This data comes from the report, 'The Future Costs of Obesity' by the United Health Foundation, American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention in conjunction with their annual America's Health Rankings report.

Obesity not only takes its toll on physical health, but it places a financial burden on the healthcare delivery system to treat increased illness as a result of obesity-related health challenged.

Healthcare reform

Kenneth Thorpe, Chair of Department of Health Policy & Management at Emory University's School of Public Health states on The Huffington Post that if Congress wishes to control costs in health-care, they must put the obesity epidemic at the top of the agenda.

Obesity and death

Obesity is responsible for 112,000 deaths and for more than 100,000 cases of cancer annually, as well as being closely linked to the explosion of chronic disease rates in the US. Yet, Americans generally view being obese as a choice rather than a medical condition. Congress can help change this by ensuring that obesity is recognized officially as a chronic condition, qualifying obese patients for many of the care coordination and preventive care provisions being considered in current health reform legislation.

Thorpe states in his article that current incentives within the healthcare system make it more profitable to treat disease than to prevent it. Healthcare incentives should instead encourage healthcare providers to spend time discussing preventive care and prescribing the appropriate diet and exercise regimens that can help their patients to avoid obesity.

Current health reform legislation would link payments to the quality of care and improved health outcomes. He also stated that physicians for weight loss counseling, reimburse nutritionists and other specialists should be paid, that by using community health teams of providers that work with provider practices and clinics, and expand coverage of comprehensive primary care, which should, in theory, include better obesity monitoring and prevention.

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