14 DAY TRIAL // We hear much talk of the obesity pandemics yet, for many of us, forming a picture of what lays ahead of us is difficult unless specific numbers are also computed. This is precisely the premise of a report drew up by Kenneth Thorpe, chairman of the department of health policy and management at Emory University in Atlanta, and cited by USA Today, which concludes that, if obesity continues to soar as until now, by 2018, it will cost the US healthcare an estimated $344 billion a year.
The report was made based on observations to this day, which seem to indicate that, in 10 years, 43 percent of Americans will be obese or severely overweight. Starting from this, Thorpe estimates that caring for all these patients with such grave weight issues will imply a budget of over $340 billion per year, which means 21 percent of the total healthcare spending. The report also comes to ring the alarm on the soaring obesity numbers by pointing the financial implications the phenomenon has, the cited publication says.
“An obese person will have an average of $8,315 in medical bills a year in 2018 compared with $5,855 for an adult at a healthy weight. That’s a difference of $2,460. If the percentage of obese adults doesn’t change but stays at the current rate of 34%, then excess weight will cost the nation about $198 billion by 2018. If the obesity rate continues to rise until 2018, then Colorado may be the only state with less than 30% of residents who are obese. More than 50% of the population in several states could be obese by 2018: Oklahoma, Mississippi, Maryland, Kentucky, Ohio and South Dakota,” USA Today says of the conclusion of the report.
“The report adds to the growing body of evidence of obesity’s impact on medical costs. A study released in July showed that obese Americans cost the country about $147 billion in weight-related medical bills in 2008, double what it was a decade ago. It now accounts for about 9.1% of medical spending. Overall, the United States spends about $1.8 trillion a year in medical costs associated with chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and all three are linked to smoking and obesity, the nation’s two largest risk factors, according to the America’s Health Rankings report,” the publication further explains.
Smoking still remains the number one preventable cause of death, the report also says, with 440,000 deaths recorded each year. However, since obesity is not far behind, Thorpe and all health specialists urge concrete action towards a better, healthier lifestyle, which also entails healthier eating patterns and regular workouts.