More
than one-third of U.S. adults (over 72 million people) and 17% of U.S. children
are obese. During 1980–2008, obesity rates doubled for adults and tripled for
children. During the past several decades, obesity rates for all population
groups—regardless of age, sex, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education
level, or geographic region—have increased markedly. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention released a new report in which they indicated that an estimated
42% of Americans will be obese by the year 2030.
Obesity
and Florida
In the fall 2003, Governor Jeb
Bush formed the Governor's Task Force on the Obesity to make recommendations
regarding the problem of overweight and obesity in Florida. In the executive summary for the task
force’s final report, Zachariah P. Zachariah, M.D. Chair of the Task Force,
states, "Obesity is second only to tobacco use as a threat to public
health. Its implications include serious health consequences such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, high
blood pressure, and certain cancers. A recent study published in The New
England Journal of Medicine indicates that one out of four children who are
overweight have early signs of type 2 diabetes. Additionally a recent study by
the RAND Corporation, a research and development institution concludes that
obesity is linked to higher rates of chronic health conditions than smoking,
drinking or poverty."
That statement was made in
2004, and eight years later the increase in the rate of overweight and obesity
Floridians has gone unabated. The recommendations of the task force can be
found at: http://www.doh.state.fl.us/family/GTFOE/report.pdf
Financial Consequences
of Obesity
Obesity takes
a toll on physical health, but it also places a financial burden o the health
care delivery system to treat increased illness as a result of obesity-related
health challenges. Erik Finklestein, PH.D and others have estimated that as
much as $75 billion dollars of our public health cost bill as attributable to
obesity in 2003, about half of which was publically financed.
Obesity, its
impact on medical cost in Florida and on state budget dollars is problematic in
light of growing number of citizen eligible for and utilizing Medicaid. Since
2000 the percent of the entire state budget allocated to Medicaid has grown
from 20.3% to 30.7% in 2012. The burden of obesity-related medical costs falls
disproportionately on public health care in the U.S., draining resources from
public programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Obesity accounted for 27 percent of
the growth in real U.S. health care spending between 1987 and 2001.
In a unique
study that departed from looking at historical costs of obesity, Kenneth E.
Thorpe, Ph.D., and colleagues from Emory University developed an econometric
model to estimate the growth of health care costs over time that are
attributable to changes in obesity rates. This report provides projections of
future health care costs directly attributable to obesity for each state and
for the nation.
Major Findings
- Obesity is growing faster than any previous public health issue our nation has faced. If current trends continue, 103 million American adults will be considered obese by 2018.
- The U.S. is expected to spend $344 billion on health care costs attributable to obesity in 2018 if rates continue to increase at their current levels. Obesity‐related direct expenditures are expected to account for more than 21 percent of the nation’s direct health care spending in 2018.
- If obesity levels were held at their current rates, the U.S. could save an estimated $820 per adult in health care costs by 2018 ‐ a savings of almost $200 billion dollars.
- In the study the obesity level in Florida is projected to increase from 29.4% in 2008 to 35.8% in 2013 and to 43.9%in 2018
- Health care spending (millions of dollars) in Florida attributable to obesity and obesity-related diseases is projected to increase from $4,873 in 2008, to $9,389 in 2013, and to $25,804 in 2018
- If obesity-attributable health caring spending remained constant the state of Florida could realize a medical care saving of $2.6 billion for 2013 and $15.7 billion for 2018
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