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Kaiser Health News
Cut the growth in rates of obesity by just 1 percent a year over the next two decades, and you’ll slice health care costs by $85 billion.
Keep obesity rates at their current levels – which is well below a 33 percent increase being projected -- and you’ll save nearly $550 billion during the same time frame.
Those are the attention-grabbing conclusions of a new paper being released this morning at the “Weight of the Nation” conference in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers from Duke University, RTI International and CDC prepared the study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
It’s the latest effort to document medical costs associated with obesity and the severe financial consequence of failing to address this epidemic.
In the new study, researchers estimate that obesity will continue to expand and will affect 42 percent of adults by 2030. (Obesity represents a body mass index score, a ratio of weight to height, of 30 or higher. Separate estimates for children aren’t calculated.)
That projection takes account of recent evidence that obesity has leveled off among some groups, and as a result it’s lower than an earlier estimate that just over half of the nation’s adults would be obese by 2030. It also factors in conditions in the states that can affect the prevalence of obesity, such as unemployment, the availability of fast food, and price differences between healthy and less healthy food items.
But while increases in obesity may have moderated, the trends laid out in this study still point upward – especially for people who are roughly 100 pounds overweight, with body mass index scores of 40 or higher.
That rapidly-growing group of severely obese people, who have the most medical problems and incur the highest health care costs, will rise from about 5 percent of the population in 2010 to 11 percent by 2030, researchers suggest.
The findings are meant to be a call to action as experts gathering at the CDC conference consider intensified strategies to combat obesity, a public health problem that affects about 78 million adults and 12.5 million children and adolescents. Tuesday morning, the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academies of Science, will release a new report examining ways to accelerate progress against obesity – an objective that has proved elusive to date, with a few, limited exceptions.
Proven interventions are now available. “We know more than ever about the most successful strategies that will help Americans live healthier, more active lives and reduce obesity rates and medical costs,” said Dr. William H. Dietz, director of the CDC’s division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity, in a prepared statement.
But adopting new policies will cost money. The new study from Duke, RTI and CDC suggests even small dents in obesity rates can prove cost efficient.
Still, projections included in the report could prove overly aggressive if effective strategies to lower obesity rates are adopted, researchers note.
Earlier this year, a separate report underscored the enormous cost of obesity by calculating that $190.2 billion, or one in every five dollars spent annually on health care in the U.S., was associated with obesity-related expenditures. That is double the amount previously estimated.
Related:
Obama v. Ryan on Medicare spending cuts
This story was produced in collaboration with Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization which is unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente
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I say bull@!$%#! The only thing that is going to stop obesity is get rid of the chemicalized food, and daycares - people paid to care for children. And the only way to cut health care costs is to get RID OF THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY!!!
This is in my opinion something that a lot of us may not have thought of, with all of the cuts in jobs, benefits but with increase in prices of everything including food, housing/rent, etc., people may want to eat right but they may not have the money. Basically to eat the right food in order to watch the calories and weight or any special diets a person is on cost a lot of extra money that you (in general) can not afford, so you eat all or mostly the foods that are not good for you and your weight(diet), it is something to keep you alive and at the same time bad for your health. This may not hitting some people but for some this maybe the reason for obesity.
I have a really hard time sympathizing with the fatties. People are sedentary by choice as often as circumstance. Yeah, we are mostly filling non-labor intensive jobs in a post agrarian economy. And yeah, there's a fast food joint on every corner. And the television hasn't helped at all. Not to mention the internet and video games.
But flopping down on the couch at night after a day spent crushing your office chair with your massive butt is a choice. Eating at Burger Heaven and "biggie sizing" everything is a personal choice as much as evil marketing manipulation. Eat less and exercise more. When you do eat, make sure it's not empty calories from sugar, fats, or starches. Eat a variety of fruits, nuts, fish, meat, beans, and vegetables. Save the beer for one night per week, say Saturdays. It's incredibly simple.
Not a runner? OK, take a walk after dinner. Play a little basketball. Go for a swim. Ride a bike. Play an hour of tennis. How about an hour lifting weights? Golf and don't use a cart. Do some work around the yard. Offer to help a neighbor do some work around their yard. Canoeing or kayaking? Paintball? Raquetball? Aerobics class? Zoomba? Frisbie? Softball? Get rid of the riding mower and get a walk behind mower. Buy a set of dumbells and do bicep curls on the couch while watching your favorite show. Do pushups and situps for a solid 2 minutes when a commercial is on.
Basically, shut off the TV and the computer and find another way to fill a couple of hours of your day. Every day. Or find a way to exercise in front of the TV.
Do this and get off the cholesterol meds and the blood pressure meds. Get off the anxiety and depression meds. Put the bottle down. Give up the smokes.
Or die a miserable death.
It doesn't seem like such difficult choice.
They came for the smokers, but I didn't smoke......now lets start bugging the fatties about the amount and type of food they shove into their mouths, or about how much alcohol someone drinks, or how much they exercise, etc. OR we could educate people on consequences of life choices then mind our own business. Put the blame for health care costs where it belongs-the insurance companies.
quote:
Cut the growth in rates of obesity by just 1 percent a year over the next two decades, and you’ll slice health care costs by $85 billion.
But...how will Big Pharma and Big Diet survive with $85 billion less in PROFITS? They created the obesity epidemic to make money. Don't forget that $85 billion has to go somewhere. Please don't anyone think it will go back into the pockets of consumers if it's not going to pay for diet drugs, weight loss surgery and all the complications arising from the dangerous things people do to their bodies in a fruitless effort to gain health through losing weight. If the 'obesity' epidemic should ever go away, something else will have to come along to replace it because all that money is profit for someone who would rather lie to us to than give up a dime of it.
But adopting new policies will cost money. That is the line that stood out to me. Why do rules changes always cost so much money?
Its very easy to get the fat off these obese people... The States and Federal Governments must prohibit them from purchasing or eating fat food, junk food and sweet stuff...
Everyone says make folks pay more well thats all well and good, but when the packaging you get food in is misleading with hidden sugar or when tax policy promotes unhealth food what do you expect. So now you have folks calling for taxing folks who eat fattening foods. just saying folks have control is easy whats hard is making the manufactures of food have a stake also and not just to make profits. im not against a company making money what i am against is looking at obesity as in single end all do all problem. If you want americans to eat better you have to make good food accesible and use tax policy to promote healthy eating. If i have only 5 dollars i can buy loaf of bread 1.50 walmart wheat, 2.00 pack of cotto salami 75 cent walmart soda and 75 cent mini carton of pringles and i can eat that for 3 days if i had to for that same 5 i can get 6 sweet potatos 2.00 3 ears of corn 1.50 2 pears 75 cents and a pound and a half of bananas 75 cents no meat or bread and how long is that 5 of veggies going to stay on my gut vs the lunch meat, soda and chips? Thats to me is the issue.
Hand the "Obesity Bill" to the processed food industry. They are killing Americans for profit.
We are not required to eat processed food. Every town has "farmers markets" that sell organic produce and many sell organic meat.
Ronnie, What kind of fairy land do you live in? Local farmers markets cannot feed 308 million people three squares a day 24/7, not even close. We are dependant on highly processed food and those who process food are in business to make a buck. They have shown repeatedly that they will feed us anything they can get away with without regard for our health. The percentage of people who avail themselves of farmers market produce is miniscule----if everyone did, the producers would be sold out in minutes. Then there is the medical and dietary industry which seem determined to confuse the issue as much and as often as possible.
Everyone is getting rich on fattening up Americans and if they feed you a bunch of crap that also causes heart disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity, so be it, buyer beware. Anything for a buck, just like the tobacco industry.
Cutting waste, duplication, and bad laws in government could save trillions. There are too many stupid "news" articles telling us how to cut a few cents here, a few cents there but we are supposed to be a free people and yet we are burdened by federal, state, county, and city governments that seem to know no boundaries. We are overburdened by government that thinks they are required to control our every movement, purchase, and even what we say. Government does not OWN us.
You can save a LOT more by booting this bozo out of the White House......
People who are over weight don't concern me as much as the people who are fat from the neck up and work in Washington DC.
Personally I'm f’n sick of hearing about this topic! You
want to go to the gym everyday then go. You want to sit at home then do so. I don’t
think its anyone elses business but as usual people in this country think they
know best and these rants are just another example. No I'm not overweight and
no I'm not defending overweight people. I'm simply saying worry about your own
damn life and leave others alone. People on here say “oh we should encourage others
to be healthy” my reply is go F yourself and pay attention to your own life.
What I or some else does or how we choose to live our life isn’t any of your
business. Some people are big and some are skinny and yea like the fag on the
subway commercial I'm sure some can lose the weight but again that should be
their choice. Who are you to think your all that just because u wanna run
everyday or because you force your kids to go outside. Your kid is no better
than anyone elses regardless of weight and sad thing is I have a friend whos
kid is very active but a big girl and their parents are always upset because of
comments like this. YOU people are hurting the kids!!! Blame it on whoever you
want and for whatever reason you wish but these dumbass commercials and ranting
about how people are fat and lazy really hurts a kids self esteem but you keep
on pretending like you give a crap. All your really doing is trying to put
yourself on a pedestal and say oh look at me I'm all pretty and
skinny but in reality your just an ass that thinks your better than everyone
else. Keep it to yourself and shut up. And of course continue to believe what
the gov wants you to believe. Got news for you “health freak” idiots the health
care system would be in trouble regardless because our government doesn’t understand
how to spend properly. That’s been the problem since day one and continues to
be the MAIN issue for our debt!
Rliberto- your such an idiot and have no idea what the hell you’re
talking about. Fat people aren’t the issue with health care dumba** but you
keep believing what the media tells you. Maybe someday you’ll amount to something
and wise up
Studies show that dieting, even that considered “naturalistic”, among young people lead to weight cycling
[Naturalistic weight reduction efforts predicted weight gain and onset of obesity in adolescent girls; ]
There is an evidence-based compassionate alternative to conventional dieting: Health At Every Size®.
Please consider this alternative prior to making a decision that may result in weight cycling.
For more information on Health At Every Size, you can find a general explanation on Wikipedia
() or find in-depth research-based information in the book Health At Every Size - The Surprising Truth About Your Weight by Dr. Linda Bacon ().
I love how this "report" comes right before the Supreme Court vote on Universal Health Care. This is why this news outlet gets continually discredit by independents and others that just want the facts rather than to be spoonfed re-election infomercials posing as articles.
Are we there yet?
Early indications of preventive utilization say "no" but what's really
interesting is why. http://www.healthcaretownhall.com/?p=3942
Check out this URL, and then read my comment. hurting-your-health
Every time there is a post about obesity increasing in America, there are a lot of bloggers whose responses indicate they are either heartless and/or uninformed. The typical attitude seems to be "deny the fatsos health benefits" or "stop pigging out and exercise!". Of course, there are always comparisons between "fat Americans" and the "thin" people of Europe.
As the article above demonstrates, instead of blaming overweight people who work 12+ hours a day, and have 3 hour daily commutes for their lack of "willpower" to deny themselves food or exercise, we need to have employers in this country return to the principle that employees are not robots or slaves, you can't work them to death, mistreat and abuse them, and then replace them. We already outlawed slavery once, but are moving back in that direction again, except that instead of slave owners, we now have multinational corporations perpetrating abuses. Other countries have laws that protect workers from such abuse, but in the US, there is no protection - we have "employment at will" work laws. The WARN Act does not work, because employers lay off employees in waves instead of in one mass layoff, to avoid even its inadequate notice provisions.
In Europe, not only are there working laws that are more humane, but because of shorter distances, a lot of Europeans do not have to commute by car - they can either walk to work or take their excellent public transportation. In the US, we are stuck with long car commutes to work, and having to take a car for everything, including errands. Most people would live to park their cars and use public transport, but in the US, most public transport is a nightmare. Of course in the US a person could walk to his nearest grocery store, but that would likely mean at least a 20 minute walk each way. When that person is already working 12+ hours a day, and commuting an additional 3, it is not hard to understand why people get no exercise. And add to that the stress of knowing that no matter how well you do your job, you can be replaced at any time, for no reason, and once you are replaced, it is very difficult to find another job, especially if you are over 50. Plus the stress of managing your work schedule to keep appointments when you have such a long commute, never mind trying to squeeze time in your day for your family.
Given the above, I am surprised there are not more Americans dropping dead from heart attacks and strokes. So - instead of blaming the overweight, how about we all concentrate into making this country a good place to work again, and stopping workplace abuse of employees? No one willingly wants to be a "fatso". BTW, I am a thin person. I have been blessed with good genes, and have not hit the big 50 yet, but have seen many people whose weight has ballooned from what I describe above.
People eat high fat food because it is cheaper on a dollar to calorie ratio. One doughnut has a lot more calories than a entire bag of carrots. Alot of people incomes today, do not have the same buying power in 1960,s. Over one half of 4 year college graduates at the age of 25 are either unemployed or underemployed. This statistic has been increasing over the years. Fifty years ago, a lot of men earned enough money to buy a house and car with only a high school diploma or less. Most women stayed home and did not have to work. Now two incomes do not equal the buying power back in 1960. If you only could spend 25 dollars per person each week on groceries (1.19 per meal), you would have no choice but to eat high calorie food to have your 2000 to 2500 calories each day. Until incomes rise higher, obesity will keep rising into the future.