Even with shorter life expectancies, the lifetime medical costs for obese individuals are greater than costs for non-obese individuals, but those costs are unlikely to spur obesity prevention efforts, according to a new study published by researchers at RTI International and Merck & Co.

The study, published on-line in the journal Obesity, found that lifetime medical costs for moderately obese 20-year-olds range between $5,000 and $21,000 more than costs for normal weight individuals. For individuals with greater levels of obesity, the costs are higher, ranging from $15,000 to $29,000 more than for normal weight individuals. Obese White females had the highest lifetime medical costs for both groups. However, the authors note that these costs are unlikely to generate significant investments in obesity prevention efforts.

"Because individuals switch jobs every four to five years, employers are unlikely to reap the financial benefits of successful obesity interventions," said Eric Finkelstein, Ph.D. director of RTI's Public Health Economics Program and the study's lead author. "For young workers, the truly detrimental effects of obesity typically occur far in the future, when the costs become somebody else’s problem, ultimately Medicare."

The study shows that Medicare has a greater incentive to invest in obesity prevention than does the private sector because many of the diseases that obesity promotes are more likely to occur at older ages. Therefore, obese individuals who enter the Medicare program incur immediately higher costs.

The study found that Medicare could spend from $2,630 to $3,460 annually on successful obesity prevention efforts and still save money.

The authors suggest that legislation that subsidizes wellness programs or mandates coverage for obesity treatment might make all firms better off if the interventions are effective at reducing the medical costs resulting from excess weight.

"No one wants to be the only firm in town covering high cost obesity treatments," Finkelstein said. "However, if they work, and if the firm could be ensured that his competitors are covering them too then it could make everyone better off. The challenge is finding interventions that are successful and cost-effective enough to implement on a broad scale."

The study used nationally representative data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey from 2001 to 2004 to identify the annual medical costs of obesity.  The costs were then adjusted for survival using the National Health Interview Survey linked to the National Death Index. 

Republished with permission of RTI.

Eric A. Finkelstein, PhD, MHA, is a nationally acclaimed expert on the subject of economics and obesity. He is a health economist with the research organization RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and teaches health economics at Duke University. His work focuses on the economic causes and consequences of health-related behaviors, with a primary emphasis on obesity. Finkelstein has published over thirty peer-reviewed articles on the economics of obesity and related behaviors. His research has been featured on the front page of USA Today and has been covered in the Economist, the New York Times, Forbes, the Washington Post, and many other newspaper, radio, and television outlets. The Fattening of America, authored by Eric Finkelstein, has just been published.

Read Eric Finkelstein's Blog: 

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Update on May 30, 2008 by At Basil & Spice

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