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High cost of being overweight
If you’re looking for a way to save money in these dire financial times, you might want to focus on your waistline. A recent medical research study reported in Health Watch Journal says that overweight Americans spend close to 42 percent more on health care that the average “normal weight” person.
Consumer and corporate spending on health care topped more than $147 billion in 2008, which accounts for almost 10 percent of all medical spending in the United States last year. Perhaps the most attention getting data is that the overweight or obese American spends more than $1,400 more on health care each year than those in the normal weight range.
For those older than 65, annual Medicare costs for treatment of heart-related disease differ significantly from $6,200 for normal weight women to $9,600 for obese women to a staggering $12,300 for the severely obese with a similar profile for men. Over a lifetime, Medicare charges can add up to as much as $100,000 more for those who are obese from young adulthood.
With the Centers for Disease Control claiming that 66 percent of all adults are overweight and almost 33 percent of those are obese, the question begs to be asked, “What if no one were fat? MSN Money estimates the nation would save $487 billion each year just on fuel for cars and airlines, health care costs and clothing.
Besides the tragic disease and poor health consequences of being overweight, America is rapidly becoming a place where its citizens are being asked to pay the price for their size. The most obvious direct financial costs to being overweight or obese is, of course, the medical costs but there are other hidden “fat taxes.”
According to a study conducted at Stanford University, obese men and women earn an average of $7,000 less per year extrapolating out to almost $3 million in lost income over a 40-year working career. The research findings shed light on who is bearing the cost of obesity-related health care and it turns out that the obese workers are paying for it themselves through lower wages.
Many employers are using an “Obesity Cost Calculator” to estimate the health insurance cost of their overweight and obese employees and adjust their wages and raises accordingly to compensate for the greater expense of the employee’s health care.
If that’s not penalty enough, the average obese worker loses on average a week of work each year because of health conditions that are related to them being overweight. In the book “The Fattening of America,” Eric Finkelstein estimates that a company with 1,000 employees loses $285,000 every year due to the absenteeism of obese workers.
When you factor in the $36 more per year that obese Americans spend on gas, the $828 paid for extra seats on airplanes and the $485 of additional money spent on clothes yearly by the obese and you can’t help but come to the conclusion that America already has an obesity tax.
The combination of fast food, processed foods and low levels of exercise is spawning an obesity epidemic in the United States. The John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health estimates that, unless the eating and exercise habits of Americans change, a staggering 86 percent of citizens will be overweight or obese by 2030.
If you’re concerned your weight might be a financial burden, log on to mayoclinic.com/health/bmi-calculator/NU00597 and check out your Body Mass Index. In the meantime, perhaps it’s time to move more and eat less — just a thought.
Cord Prettyman is a certified master personal trainer and the owner of Absolute Workout Fitness and Post-Re-hab Studio in Woodland Park. He can be reached at 719-687-7437 or cordprettyman@msn.com.
Consumer and corporate spending on health care topped more than $147 billion in 2008, which accounts for almost 10 percent of all medical spending in the United States last year. Perhaps the most attention getting data is that the overweight or obese American spends more than $1,400 more on health care each year than those in the normal weight range.
For those older than 65, annual Medicare costs for treatment of heart-related disease differ significantly from $6,200 for normal weight women to $9,600 for obese women to a staggering $12,300 for the severely obese with a similar profile for men. Over a lifetime, Medicare charges can add up to as much as $100,000 more for those who are obese from young adulthood.
With the Centers for Disease Control claiming that 66 percent of all adults are overweight and almost 33 percent of those are obese, the question begs to be asked, “What if no one were fat? MSN Money estimates the nation would save $487 billion each year just on fuel for cars and airlines, health care costs and clothing.
Besides the tragic disease and poor health consequences of being overweight, America is rapidly becoming a place where its citizens are being asked to pay the price for their size. The most obvious direct financial costs to being overweight or obese is, of course, the medical costs but there are other hidden “fat taxes.”
According to a study conducted at Stanford University, obese men and women earn an average of $7,000 less per year extrapolating out to almost $3 million in lost income over a 40-year working career. The research findings shed light on who is bearing the cost of obesity-related health care and it turns out that the obese workers are paying for it themselves through lower wages.
Many employers are using an “Obesity Cost Calculator” to estimate the health insurance cost of their overweight and obese employees and adjust their wages and raises accordingly to compensate for the greater expense of the employee’s health care.
If that’s not penalty enough, the average obese worker loses on average a week of work each year because of health conditions that are related to them being overweight. In the book “The Fattening of America,” Eric Finkelstein estimates that a company with 1,000 employees loses $285,000 every year due to the absenteeism of obese workers.
When you factor in the $36 more per year that obese Americans spend on gas, the $828 paid for extra seats on airplanes and the $485 of additional money spent on clothes yearly by the obese and you can’t help but come to the conclusion that America already has an obesity tax.
The combination of fast food, processed foods and low levels of exercise is spawning an obesity epidemic in the United States. The John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health estimates that, unless the eating and exercise habits of Americans change, a staggering 86 percent of citizens will be overweight or obese by 2030.
If you’re concerned your weight might be a financial burden, log on to mayoclinic.com/health/bmi-calculator/NU00597 and check out your Body Mass Index. In the meantime, perhaps it’s time to move more and eat less — just a thought.
Cord Prettyman is a certified master personal trainer and the owner of Absolute Workout Fitness and Post-Re-hab Studio in Woodland Park. He can be reached at 719-687-7437 or cordprettyman@msn.com.
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