It is clearly that someone who is obese is said to have a higher expense of health care, which untimely creates an economic burden to the economy. Obesity leads to many diseases. It becomes relatively expensive for health insurances and individuals to come up with the funding, especially when gastric bypass surgery is the only solution. In order to solve this problem, insurances need to cover obesity surgeries because it’s considered a disease. As insurance companies cover the individuals who are obese in the long run the cost benefit ratio will be beneficial to the nation, company, and individual. Although, insurance companies are unable to see the cost benefit outweighing the cost in the short term it will eventually occur in the long run.
Obesity has both direct and indirect effects. Direct effects we will explore are lost time due to increased use of sick days and restrictive work duties. A few of the indirect costs are the cost of medication for diseases directly related to obesity, such as but not limited to, Diabetes, High
Obesity is one of the biggest problems in healthcare in many developed nations. Atlas views obesity from a functionalist’s perspective, that obesity (deviation from healthy body weight) has tremendous social costs including increased healthcare expenses as well as costs from work absenteeism and premature death, thereby threatening social stability and growth.
Obesity is defined as a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduce life expectancy and/or increased health problems. “The problem of obesity is increasing in the United States. Understanding the impact of social inequalities on health has become a public health priority in the new millennium. Social, political, and economic factors now are acknowledged to be "fundamental" causes of disease that affect behavior, beliefs, and biology.” (Goodman, 2003) In the United States today, obesity has become an enormous problem. In the last 3 decades, the number of people overweight has increased dramatically. Obesity has not always been seen as a medical
However, there are several other costs inflicted on society by poor dietary practices by its citizens. One example is the impacts that are placed on the health system. Obesity can lead to a wide range of different medical conditions which make obese people more frequent visitors to a health care facility. This acts to drive up medical costs for everyone not just the obese themselves. Furthermore, there are also issues for the labor pool. Obesity can prevent people from meeting their productivity potentials as well as make them miss more time at work due to obesity related illnesses.
Obesity has caused our nation an abundant loss in productivity in businesses due to mental or physical issues causing an obstacle to efficiency while active in the work place. The total loss production time is at 11.7 billion dollars per year. According to Shell Oil Company, 11.2 million dollars were lost because of absenteeism related to obesity. Annual productivity loss is between 3.38 and 6.38 billion dollars. When obese, there is a major increase in disability payments and disability insurance premium costs. This produces higher fiscal costs to the federal government. Obesity alone charges our country and businesses billions and billions of dollars each year just from being absent from work or being present, yet not productive
The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention claims that “obesity related medical care cost in the United States are at an all time high, and in 2008 dollars, these cost were estimated to be 147 billion. The annual nationwide productive costs of obesity-related absenteeism range between $3.38 billion ($79 per obese individual) and $6.38 billion ($132 per obese individual),” according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. An analysis conducted by Emory University own healthcare economist Ken Thorpe, Ph.D. C, titled “The Future Cost of Obesity” estimates that the annual of cost of health care will sky rock by an estimated 344 billion dollars by 2018 or about $20.00 per every healthcare dollar spent in the U.S, providing a financial imperative for obesity prevention initiatives.
Obesity related diseases are the main economical interference in the medical industry. Throughout the years obesity has generated more diseases among citizens, which has and continues to affect the cost of medical care. Most of medical cost is“… almost entirely a result of costs generated from treating the diseases that obesity promotes…And suggests… as long as obesity prevails to the extent that it does today, it will continue to be a significant burden on health care " (Wexler, "The Economics of Overweight and Obesity"). Obesity generated diseases cause people to spend more money on medical care to treat these diseases. While more people are being treated, the number of medical staff and medical
One of the most mentioned economic impacts of the obesity epidemic is on direct medical spending. Obesity is linked with greater risk for several serious health conditions, such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes,
A gastric bypass weight loss program is for those who are recuperating from gastric bypass surgery to assist them to heal and alter bad eating habits. Gastric bypass surgery is among several weight-loss surgical procedures presently carried out. The operation itself has gone through several modifications through the years. The process being used today is known as the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. It should not be mistaken with other weight-loss surgical procedures, like the biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch, that is a more aggressive surgery. Your physician or perhaps a registered dietitian will talk to you concerning the diet you will need to follow after surgery, explaining what kinds
In a way, this book highlights the various consequences of obesity in significant detail. In the author's opinion, obesity does impact on an individual's health negatively from both a surgical and mental
During this period, a continuous reduction in underweight with a simultaneous increase in obesity has been reported (Trishnee & Jeewon, 2014). In the United States (US) alone, medical costs related to obesity have risen from 78.5 billion a year in 1998 to 147 billion annually in 2008 (Trishnee & Jeewon, 2014). If current trends in obesity prevail, total healthcare costs attributable to obesity could reach up to the range of $861 to 957 billion by 2030 in the US (Trishnee & Jeewon, 2014).
The government has to support people because they need get help since they get diseases related to obesity. There is also a problem when traveling. The average American has increased 24 pounds since 1960.And an airplane needs about a gallon of jet fuel to move 100 pounds on a domestic flight.The average gallon cost around $3.05, which cost a lot more for the companies and produces megatons of CO2(Source B). This would also support the satirical political image that obese people are the cause for all of our problems. The image start with an obese person eating cake, which causes a button on his shirt to pop, this ends up in the cut down of a Brazilian rain forest. While very exaggerated, there is some type of truth behind it. We obviously can’t blame everything on obese people but we can conclude that as people grow bigger so do our
Obesity in the United States has really become an economic problem as well. People are spending the little money that they have and spending it on food that they shouldn’t be eating in the first place, which they should be spending their money on healthier and nutritious food, for themselves and their family. New England Medical Center, Michael Dansinger of the Tufts says:
Obesity has become a serious problem with more than one third of adults being obese in the United States. Obesity is seen as a self-destructive behavior accompanied with smoking and use of other drugs thus, government officials and other business bureaucrats expressed the need to impose higher health insurance premiums on the obese. Obesity is not always due to the personal behavior of people and can be linked with the environment and genetics; I personally feel that obese people should not pay a higher health insurance premium compared to those that aren’t. Government officials and other business bureaucrats
Linked with health problems is a poor diet. Variations in our food environment have made it challenging to maintain a healthy weight. Society tends to want to eat more fast-food rather than cooking at home because it is cheaper and less time-consuming. We have become lazy when it comes to our diets. We don’t take into consideration the Food Guide and basically eat what we want, when we want. Obesity is also a major drain on the economy. The amount of money being spent on health care because of obesity-related diseases is astronomical. The Globe and Mail had an article headlined, “Obesity costs economy up to $7-billion a year” (Picard). By eating right and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, our society can cut down economic costs drastically. All we need to have is some discipline, the proper diet, and exercise.