Cost
of Obesity
Obesity adds
20 days of lost productivity per year per obese
employee, a cost of $5,350. (Source: Hughes
Electronics Study on presenteeism)
Taxpayers
foot the doctor's bill for more than half of
obesity-related medical costs, which reached
a total of $75 billion in 2003, according to
a new study.
The public pays about $39 billion a year --
or about $175 per person -- for obesity through
Medicare and Medicaid programs, which cover
sicknesses caused by obesity including type
2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, several
types of cancer and gallbladder disease.
What
is the cost of overweight and obesity?
Total
cost: $117 billion , Direct cost: $61 billion,*
Indirect cost: $56 billion (comparable to the
economic costs of cigarette smoking)
What
is the cost of heart disease related to overweight
and obesity?
Direct
cost: $8.8 billion (17 percent of the total
direct cost of heart disease, independent of
stroke)
What
is the cost of type 2 diabetes related to overweight
and obesity?
Total
cost: $98 billion (in 2001)
What
is the cost of osteoarthritis related to overweight
and obesity?
Total
cost: $21.2 billion, Direct cost: $5.3 billion,
Indirect cost: $15.9 billion
What
is the cost of hypertension (high blood pressure)
related to overweight and obesity?
Direct
cost: $4.1 billion (17 percent of the total
cost of hypertension)
What
is the cost of gallbladder disease related to
overweight and obesity?
Total
cost: $3.4 billion, Direct cost: $3.2 billion,
Indirect cost: $187 million
What
is the cost of cancer related to overweight
and obesity?
Breast
cancer: Total cost: $2.9 billion, Direct cost:
$1.1 billion, Indirect cost: $1.8 billion
Endometrial
cancer: Total cost: $933 million, Direct cost:
$310 million, Indirect cost: $623 million
Colon
cancer: Total cost: $3.5 billion, Direct cost:
$1.3 billion, Indirect cost: $2.2 billion
What
is the cost of lost productivity related to
obesity?
The
cost of lost productivity related to obesity
(BMI > 30) among Americans ages 17–64 is
$3.9 billion. This value considers the following
annual numbers (for 1994):
Workdays lost related to obesity: 39.3 million
Physician office visits related to obesity:
62.7 million
Restricted activity days related to obesity:
239.0 million
Bed-days related to obesity: 89.5 million
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