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Food and Health Fact #132
Fact #132: The financial cost of obesity
By Matthew Rees
Food and Health Fact #132: The financial cost of obesity
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The rise in health care costs associated with treating obesity is documented in a 2017 study authored by professors at Cornell and Lehigh, as well as a researcher in a U.S. federal agency.
The share of total health care spending devoted to treating obesity-related illness rose from 20.6 percent in 2005 to 27.5 percent in 2010 to 28.2 percent in 2013.
From 2005-10, the aggregate costs of obesity in the adult, noninstitutionalized population increased 48.7 percent.
Obesity raises the average medical care costs of obese adults by $3,429 (2013 dollars).
The authors also pointed out that nearly 94 percent of the higher medical expenditures are incurred by third-party payers. These external costs, said the authors, “represent an important economic rationale for government intervention to prevent and reduce obesity.”
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