Of all the diseases and disorders that generate medical costs in the US, it is disheartening to announce that 10% of that total cost is due to obesity related issues. Overweight is defined as have a BMI, body mass index, of 25-29, and obesity is defined as having a BMI over 30. With every added pound for an overweight individual, health risks increase as well the cost associated with those risks.
A study was conducted at George Washington University to quantify the excess costs that stem directly from overweight issues or obesity. The extra annual costs for overweight individuals, while alone equal a large sum of money, were not near as appalling as the figures for obese individuals.
The average, overweight woman is at a loss for about $524 a year, and the average overweight man stands at a loss of about $432 per year; but the annual figures for obese individuals were on average, $4,879 for a woman, and $2,646 for men.
Why the large difference between genders? These figures include lost revenue; this means days of work missed due to illness, inability to find a job at all, as well as early death. Studies show that obese men are typically not as impacted at the workplace by obesity as women. For obese women, finding and keeping a job tends to be more of a complexity, and this explains the sizable gap in average financial losses.
While this study reveals the financial impact of obesity, can we really put a fiscal spin on the degradation of life? If thousands of dollars lost per year from individual wallets and over $160 billion in obesity related health care costs isn’t enough to elicit a movement to improve our nation’s health status, then what will the figures be ten years from now?
Proactive health programs that promote prevention, financial assistance for weight loss support groups, lifestyle fitness coaches, and literature to help change unhealthy, harmful habits for good are just some examples of ways in which we can begin the movement toward a healthier national lifestyle.
The awareness is there, all we need is a goal and an action plan to unify our concerted efforts. Don’t we have enough uncontrollable diseases and disorders to fight? There is no better news than knowing that the cure is in our hands; that should be the first message in our fight against the self-inflicted obesity epidemic.
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