Further Evidence of the Cost of Obesity on Insurers

A recent study published in the June 27, 2005 Health Affairs by K. Thorpe and others clearly places the blame for the significant rise in healthcare cost to the increase in the prevalence in obesity as opposed to the rise in the cost of treatment per case. The article titled, The Rising Prevalence Of Treated Diseases: Effects On Private Health Insurance Spending, stated that in 1987 obesity cost the insurer $3.6 billion compared with more than $36 billion in 2002.

The obese individual cost the private insurer just 2 percent more in comparison to the normal weight individual in 1987. Compare those figures to 56 percent more for the obese individual in 2002. There is no doubt that obesity is costing the private insurer many more billions of dollars today and those cost are being passed on to industry with higher premiums and the like.

Further the study showed that percentage of obese individuals with related diseases such as asthma, back problems, high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases was significantly greater than for the normal weight individuals. For example, the percentage of obese individuals with diabetes was 9.2 percent compared with the percentage of normal weight individuals at 1.3 percent.

The study went on to say that since the increase healthcare cost related to obesity was more due to an increase in prevalence, increasing co-payments is not a viable way to deal with the problem. It is only when industry becomes proactive to try to prevent obesity or to provide programs to assist the obese in losing weight will the rising healthcare cost related to obesity subside.