Research Paper on "Economic Impact of Obesity in the United States"

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According to WHO (World Health Organization) 1.6 million people were over weighted in United States in 2005, from which 400 million were obese

. It is predicted that by 2015, 2.3 million people will be overweight from which 700 million will be obese and will be defined by BMI > 30.

Ruhm (2007) also worked on increasing number of obese individuals in United States and estimated that 77.6% of men will be overweight in America by 2020, from which 40.2% will be obese. In case of women, 71.7% women will be overweight and from those, 43.3% will be obese. In another study, Ogden et al. (2007) compared the obesity occurrence between 2003-4 and 2005-6, in which they did not found any significant change in obesity prevalence. These were some of the facts regarding the increasing obesity in the United States.

This paper will explain the economic impact of obesity in United States and the issues faced by the men, women, children, and people belonging to all circles of life including economists, politicians and general public. Furthermore, it will also state possible solutions of the problems and ways to overcome the obesity issues.

Economic Impact of Obesity in United States

Obesity has a very deep impact on the economic conditions of United States. For instance:

1. The indirect economic cost of obese and overweight population in United States is $270 billion yearly due to:

a) the increasing expenses of medical care ($127billion),

b) loss of productivity of workers ($49 billion), disability of workers ($43 billion) and increase in the death rates ($72 billion)

c) Increasing cost of overweight persons $72 billion and total cost of obese persons $198 billion

2. Obese persons have 40% extra health care expenses than individuals that have normal weight

3. Disease that result due to obesity increase medical cost by 27%. According to an estimate, the medical expenses of United States for obesity and overweight people are 17% of U.S. medical costs (National Bureau of Economic Research)

4. According to nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office report of 2010, around 20% increase in the United States health care spending from 1987-2000 was due to the increasing obesity.

Following paragraphs will explain how obesity has such a deep impact on the economic condition of United States:

Direct Health Costs

One of the most significant economic impact of obesity from which general public suffers is an increase in direct health spending. Direct health care are the diagnostic and treatment services of individuals that are obese, these include; physician visits, nursing expenses, hospital expenses, home care, etc.). Direct health costs of obese patients increase significantly because obesity results in many serious illnesses and health conditions. These include; Type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, hypertension, cancer, osteoarthritis, infertility, gastro esophageal reflux disease, chronic headaches, cirrhosis of liver, asthma, sleep apnea (Pyle, 2006, p.361-376) etc.

According to Must, Spandano, Field et al., (1999), around 70 to 80% of adults that are obese suffer from diabetes, high blood pressures and high cholesterol. Diagnosis and treatment of these diseases increases the direct medical spending of public and these expenses continue to rise with the increasing levels of obesity. Secondly, the increasing of medical attention also plays a role in increasing the overall cost because the health insurance companies also increase their rates due to high demand .Several studies have proved that increase in obesity results in direct medical costs of the people.

Indirect Productivity Costs

A number of indirect costs, along with the direct medical costs, also increase due to obesity which together is part of the economic impact of obesity. Indirect costs are things like wages that are lost by the people who cannot work due to disability or illness. Similarly the value of future earnings can also be lost due to premature death of obese persons. Since obesity cause many diseases which prevent individuals from working and results in their early death, therefore, indirect productivity costs have been pointed out by many researchers as one of the factors that has a significant effect on the economy.

The studies also state that aggregate productivity loss and loss in several other sub-categories of productivity is also faced due to obesity. Many of these categories involve productivity loss that originates in the labor market; for instance due to absenteeism, i.e. when employees stay absent from work, because of obesity related diseases and problems. Another reason is the presenteeism, i.e. employees are at work but they don't produce effectively due to obesity issues. Other productivity costs include; high rates of disability benefit payments, premature morality and welfare loss in the health insurance market.

Transportation Costs

Transportation cost is another cost in addition to medical and productivity which is affected by obesity. This is because increase in the body weight of Americans means that more fuel and larger vehicles will be needed for transporting same number of people which were earlier managed in small vehicles and less fuel. This has two effects; one is the increase in direct costs due to more spending on fuel and second is the increase in the potential indirect costs due to more greenhouse gas emissions.

Physocial Consequences

Emotional suffering is one of the painful aspects of life and unfortunately obesity results in many such serious psychosocial consequences. According to the U.S. department of health and human services, persons that are obese suffer more from low self-esteem and depression compared to the normal weight persons. This also affects their job performance at work place and increases the risk of social isolation and even suicide

In United States, physical appearance is considered very important, especially in case of women who are judged from their slimness and figure. It has been found in studies that women that were obsess had attended very few years of schools, very few of them were married, they had very low house hold incomes and high rate of poverty.

Overweight people in United States are perceived as lazy and inactive persons which are actually not the case. This judgment of society has a very devastating effect on the obese people. It badly effect all including students, teachers, doctors, politicians, social workers who are discriminated at the work place, in schools, colleges, universities and at such social places. This attitude of society gives these people feeling of embracement and they suffer from depression.

According to a study conducted in 1991 by Rand and Macgregor, all 100% of obese persons prefer to have other disease like diabetics, deadness, dyslexic, bad acne instead of becoming obese again. They all preferred to be smart and normal weighted persons instead of becoming a multimillionaire.

Human Capital Accumulation

Children and adolescents that are obese also suffer from serious psychological issues which impact their education and social functioning. Quality and quantity of schooling also has a significant economic impact as the rates of obesity in children increases. Different studies have been conducted by researchers to find out the change in human capital costs due to obesity, which have provided the statistical evidence, confirming the link between obesity and education experience of students.

Overall Impact of Obesity in United States

It can be concluded from above factors that obesity is the result of many social, cultural, behavioral, environmental and physiological factors. The overall impact of obesity in United States is considered to be significant as the total annual economic costs which are associated with obesity are in excess of $215 billion. The impact… READ MORE