It makes sense that as we get fatter as a nation, our healthcare costs rise as well. But, I was really taken back today when I read that obesity could cost the U.S. $190 billion in healthcare.
A new study shows that the rising cost of obesity has doubled from what experts previously expected. The staggering cost of obesity may even exceed the healthcare cost of smoking – yikes. Maybe it is true that when you give up smoking, which has been pushing in our society (and rightfully so), you gain weight.
What is all this money being spent on? Well, if you are obese, you aren’t going to fit in the regular stadium seats, so stadiums have to put in larger seats to accommodate a growing crowd. The same is true of bus stops, which leads me to think buses themselves are going to have to be restructured. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has said it will need to test how obese riders affect steering and brakes. And – this one is going to hurt – if we weighed less, we would use less gas. Estimates are that we are burning almost a billion extra gallons of gas each year due to our girth.
Hospitals don’t have it any easier. Hospitals are having remove toilets mounted on the wall and replace them with floor models to help support larger patients.
And it isn’t easy for those that are obese. Employers are charging obese workers between 30 and 50 percent more for healthcare, which is allowable under a 2010 health care reform law. Studies show that obese people miss more work than those that aren’t obese. It is also believed that symptoms such as shortness of breath and pain can reduce productivity.
As you might expect, obese people are reacting with cries of “size discrimination.” And, they also face the discrimination of losing jobs over peers who are a smaller size.
Experts and economists, who once sought to stamp out smoking after second-hand smoke threats became apparent, now are trying to come up with a way to try to end obesity. The government is looking for a way to fight obesity as well. The percentage of Americans who are obese has tripled since 1960.