Obese people spend 42 percent more on health care than normal-weight people

A report released Monday found that obesity costs the United States $147 billion based on information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention among others.
The report is another in a long line that highlights how overweight Americans cost the health care system.
The study, entitled “Annual Medical Spending Attributable to Obesity”, found that obese people spent 42 percent more for medical care in 2006 than normal-weight people. That translates to $1,429 more money per year.
The report appeared online Monday in the journal Health Affairs.
Another study released earlier this month found that 33 percent of Americans were considered obese.

Americans keep getting fatter and fatter

Adult obesity rates increased this year in 23 states and failed to decrease in any, according to a report released this week from two national health advocates, the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

No state’s percentage of overweight or obese adults decreased from last year.
Texas, which ranked 14th among the states for overweight and obese adults, kept its same rate as last year, just under 28 percent.

Here is the really disturbing point:
Obesity rates are continuing to spiral out of control.
According to this study, no state had an obesity rate more than 20 percent in 1991. The national average for adult obesity was 15 percent in 1980.
Now adult obesity exceeds 33 percent.

Another sad point:
The rate of overweight and obese children is higher than that of adults.
In Texas, 32 percent of children were overweight, the study found.
Nationally, obesity rates topped 30 percent in 30 states.

Here is why you should care:
Obesity is closely tied to a person’s general health.
When the nation’s health goes bad, health-care costs go up.
As the national debate on health care continues, rising costs is a mammoth issue.
The nation can’t expect costs to stop growing when their waist lines don’t.