New Study Finds Obesity Costs Over $200 Billion:
Obesity Tied to Costly Chronic Illnesses That Make Medical Bills Skyrocket

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 1999 —The health care costs for treating obese adults in the U. S. in 1999 have reached $23 8 billion, according to a new study released here today at a two-day conference on obesity.

"Obesity takes an enormous toll, not only on the health of the individual, but also on the economic health of the medical care system," says Robert J. Rubin, MD, president of The Lewin Group. "Previous studies have shown - and our study confirms - that obesity increases the risk of developing such chronic and costly conditions as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, or stroke."

The study examined 15 co-morbid conditions. Researchers then extrapolated this analysis to all conditions and total direct medical costs in the U.S.

The co-morbid conditions include arthritis, breast cancer, heart disease, colorectal cancer, type 2 diabetes, endometrial cancer, end stage renal disease, gallbladder disease, hypertension, liver disease, low back pain, renal cell cancer, sleep apnea, stroke, and urinary incontinence. After determining the costs of these diseases, the study calculated the percentage of obese persons with each co-morbid condition and calculated the total costs to the U.S. health care system of treating patients with obesity. The study did not include the costs of treating obesity itself. The direct health care costs for treating obese persons with these the 15 comorbid conditions is $102 billion. The study found that 20 percent of the adult population was obese, but for these 15 conditions, treatment of obese adults constitutes 31 percent of health care costs.

The study defined a person as obese if he or she had a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 or greater. BMl is the ratio of a person’s weight (in kilograms) to height (in meters squared). The study also revealed that increases in BMI may be associated with a dramatically increased risk for diseases such as arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

"The data indicated that a person with a BMI > 35 has a 6.61 times greater risk than a person who is not overweight (BMI < 25) of contracting type 2 diabetes," says Rubin. "A person with severe obesity has a 3.77 percent times greater chance of being hypertensive."

"The study does give us reason for hope," Rubin says. "Even a modest reduction of BMI greatly reduces the health risk to the individual and the economic consequences of treating illness to society and health care providers."

"Obesity is the ticking time bomb in the health care system," says Morgan Downey, executive director of the American Obesity Association. "It has been ignored and neglected as a health issue, but this study shows that it is likely to frustrate all efforts at health care cost containment in the next century."

Approximately 39 million Americans (22.5 percent) are obese and the number is increasing.

The American Obesity Association’s conference, Obesity: The Public Health Crisis, Sept. 15-16, is intended to focus attention on the U.S. government’s unresponsiveness to the obesity epidemic. The national conference brings, for the first time ever, this chronic disease into the public policy arena. Some 300 conference attendees are hearing public health, research, and policy leaders discuss new information on the causes, preventative measures, and treatment of obesity.

Founded in 1995, the American Obesity Association (AOA) is a non-profit organization whose fundamental mission is to have obesity regarded as a disease of epidemic proportions. AOA supporters include various national public and private organizations that contribute their name to support its issues.

The Lewin Group is an internationally recognized health care policy, research, and management-consulting firm with offices in the Washington, DC, Boston, Mass., and San Francisco, Calif, metropolitan areas and throughout Europe. The firm specializes in helping public and private sector clients develop solutions to the challenges of the changing health care marketplace.