The Costs of Obesity

Obesity costs more than you may think.

Obesity creates a huge cost burden that is borne mostly by those who suffer from the disease. Because obesity strikes heavily at people of working age, it's costs go beyond the obvious expenses of doctor visits and medications. Workers who suffer from obesity lose income because of greater time out of work due to illness, decreased productivity due to joint pain or sleep disturbance and from supervisors who refuse to see their full potential. The cost of some factors, such as prejudice or feelings of shame and unworthiness, can never even be quantified.

Annual Costs of Being Obese

  • $4,789 for a woman. When value of lost life is included: $8,365
  • $2,646 for a man. When value of lost life is included: $6,518

Lost Wages

  • Studies suggest that female employees who are obese have an annual wage loss of around 6% annually (around $1,855 for a woman making $32,000).
  • Productivity in the workplace is reportedly affected anywhere from $54 annually per obese worker to $575, depending on the reporting industry.
  • Severely and morbidly obese men miss an average of 2 days of work per year due to obesity related illness or injury, while women miss between an additional 1-5 days (as compared with normal weight individuals).
  • An obese employee has a 76% increased risk for short-term disability than a normal weight employee.

Personal Costs

  • The overweight to morbidly obese person spends an average of $8 to $36 more on gasoline per year.
  • In 1995, overweight and obese people spent an additional $14 to $111 on life insurance annually.
  • Generally, for an obese woman, the total incremental costs are more than 9 times higher than those for overweight women. The costs are six times higher for an obese man compared to an overweight man. The higher the weight, the higher the cost.

Source: A Heavy Burden: The Individual Costs of Being Overweight and Obese in the United States. Written by Avi Dor, Ph.D., Christine Ferguson, J.D., Casey Langwith, B.A., and Ellen Tan, M.Sc..  The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services Department of Health Policy.) September 21, 2010.

The Savings of Weight Loss

“A recent study showed that bariatric surgery paid for itself in about 2 years. One important reason is that weight loss surgery helps improve or resolve conditions associated with obesity, such as type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol, so patients save money on related prescription drugs, doctor visits, and hospital visits.”       Source: www.realize.com

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