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Obesity is a huge problem in the health care industry. Not only does it incur large expenses on the taxpayers when a person cannot pay for obesity related health problems, but it also costs the health care system in another way: new instruments. As Americans get larger and larger, the health care industry needs to compensate by creating longer needles, larger MRI machines, and larger hospital beds. They need to readjust their medical instruments in order to accommodate the expanding waistlines of the average American.
One of the biggest problems with obesity is that it creates enormous health care costs. Finkelstein estimates that the medical costs of obesity could have risen to $147 billion in 2008, or 9.1% of US health care expenditures (Finkelstein). While the percentage does not seem significant, the fact that it’s even this large a percent of expenditures proves that it is a problem. Not only is the condition preventable for the most part, but the costs could easily be lowered.
One of the saddest statistics about obesity is that the percentage of children age 6-11 who were obese in the year 1980, being 7%, has increased to nearly 20% in 2008 (Center For Disease Control). This is troubling because children who are obese or overweight are more likely to maintain this status for the rest of their lives. This means that they will be much more prone to develop symptoms related to their weight and they will eventually create a burden on the health care industry. Studies show that obese children are more likely than children who are of normal weight to become obese adults; furthermore, their obesity in adulthood is likely to be more severe (Hansen).
The scariest part about the obesity epidemic is that the children are not only likely to be overweight for their whole lives, they are also more susceptible to diseases that were previously only contracted by adults (Beilenson). This means that the incident of problems related to being overweight or obese is rising, which leads to an increased burden on the health care system.
Part of the problem is the fact that people who are overweight or obese go to the hospital not for the cause of the problem, but for a symptom that the problem causes. Whether it be a heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure, much of these costs are due to the problems that weight issues cause. Attacking the cause of the problem would be a much more effective solution, but until Americans are serious about solving it, it’s an issue that will continue to trouble our society.