A new report says that obesity in the United States is costing an incredible $190 billion each year. It has now passed smoking, as the country’s number on public heath enemy as far as cost is concerned.
Obese men represent an additional cost of $1,152 each year in medical costs that include prescription drugs and hospital visits. Women who are obese account for an additional $3,153 each year in medical costs. Data was used from over 23,700 men and women who were aged between 20 and 64. In that group, 28% of the participants were obese. The costs increased more for those who did not have insurance: medical spending annually for an obese individual was $3,271 compared to just $512 for someone who was not obese.
The cost due to being overweight manifests in many different ways, from increased costs for insurance premiums everyone pays to subsidize the additional medical charges for the obese to the dramatic impact weight has on the cost of energy.
One report said that the additional weight vehicles in the U.S. carry, because of the number of overweight and obese people, is causing the country to use nearly 1 billion more gallons of gasoline each year. That amounts to close to one percent of the total used in the U.S.
Obesity has increased over 34% since 1960 and morbid obesity has jumped sixfold in that time period. One other factor making the impact of obesity so strong in the U.S. is that obese people, unlike smokers, usually live nearly the same amount of time as those that maintain their weight.
