Obesity Threatens Health Care System, Study Says

Younger Americans who are overweight today are threatening to hit the U.S. government’s Medicare system with big health care bills when they reach old age, according to a report published on Tuesday.

“With current trends of increasing overweight and obesity afflicting all age groups, urgent preventive measures are required not only to lessen the burden of disease and disability associated with excess weight but also to contain future health care costs incurred by the aging population,” the study said. The report from Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, found that that annual average Medicare charges for severely obese men were $6,192 more than for non-overweight men — 84 percent higher. For severely obese women, annual average charges were $5,618 more, or 88 percent higher than for women not overweight. For men the total average annual Medicare charges for those not overweight were $7,205, for the overweight $8,390, for the obese $10,128 and for the severely obese $13,674. The total average annual charges for women in the same four categories were, respectively, $6,224, $7,653, $9,612, and $12,342. About 12 percent of U.S. adults aged 65 years and older are currently considered to be obese, a figure likely to increase to 20 percent by 2050, the study said. Obesity can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary and other health problems. The report was published in this week’s Journal of the American medical Association. The authors said about 130 million U.S. adults are currently overweight or obese. The definition for being overweight is a body mass index of 25 to 29.9. Body mass index is a calculation based on height and weight.(Source: Northwestern University Chicago, Reuters Health, December 2004)