In 1998, Americans spent $78.5 billion in overweight and obesity-related medical
costs, which works out to 9.1 percent of all national medical expenditures
for the year. (That figure translates to $92.6 billion in 2002 dollars.) Medicare
and Medicaid, the main public insurers, paid almost half of these costs.
Even with insurance, overweight and especially obese people spent more of
their own money on medical care than people who weighed within the normal range.
The 1998 figures show that overweight and obese individuals paid an extra 11.4
percent and 26.1 percent, respectively, on out-of-pocket medical costs.
More than half of Americans are either overweight or obese, and the prevalence
of both conditions is on the rise, say Eric A. Finkelstein, Ph.D., of RTI International
and colleagues.
“As with smoking, there is a clear motivation for payers to consider
strategies aimed at reducing the prevalence of these conditions,” Finkelstein
says.
The study is published by the journal Health Affairs and supported by the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Insurers may consider charging obese people higher coverage rates, as they
do now for smokers, or encouraging weight loss through incentives like subsidized
gym memberships, say the researchers.
The researchers used national health interview and medical expenditure surveys
for 9,867 adults age 19 and older to calculate the costs of overweight and
obesity nationwide.
Medicare recipients had the highest percentage of overweight and obesity combined,
while Medicaid patients had the highest rates of obesity.
According to Finkelstein and colleagues, previous studies suggest that Medicaid
recipients may be more likely to smoke or drink too much alcohol, which could
complicate their obesity treatment.
Overweight and obesity-related medical costs are also highest among these
two groups. The high rates of spending among elderly Medicare patients may
be due in part to their age, the researchers suggest.
“Medicare and Medicaid also have generous insurance coverage, encouraging
people to seek more treatment for all services, including those associated
with obesity,” Finkelstein says.
