Obese people in the U.S. spend 36 percent more on healthcare and 77 percent more on drugs according to the Foresight report on Tackling Obesity put out by Foresight, a division within the UK’s Government Office for Science.

In type 2 diabetics, a weight loss of one percent of body weight reduced total health care costs by an average of 3.6 percent or $256 per year and diabetes-related costs by 5.8 percent or $131 per year. This according to a study of data from a health maintenance organization (HMO) for the period from July 1, 1997 through October 31, 2005.

Medical expenses in the U.S. attributed to obesity are estimated to be $75 billion per year in 2003 dollars.

Medical costs and missing work associated with being overweight and obese range from $175 per year for overweight males to $2485 for obese females with a BMI of 35 or more according to a new study from RTI International Health, Social and Economics Research in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA.

Health care costs are about 25 percent greater for someone who is moderately obese, that is have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 to 35, compared to someone who is normal weight; about 50 percent greater for someone with severe obesity, that is having a BMI of 35 to 40; and 100 percent greater—that is twice as great—for someone with extreme obesity with a BMI greater than 40 according to paper from the RAND Graduate School in Santa Monica, California.

The healthcare costs for morbidly obese adults in the U.S., that is those with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or more, are 81 percent greater than normal-weight adults (BMI 18.5-24.9), 65 percent greater than overweight adults (BMI 25-29.9), and 47 percent greater than adults with class I obesity (BMI 30-34.9) according to a new study from the University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Obesity accounts for more than one-quarter of the increase in health care costs from 1987 to 2001 according to a new study by Dr. Kenneth E. Thorpe, Robert W. Woodruff Professor and Chair, Department of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. 

People who gain 20 pounds or more during a three year period increase their health care costs by an average of $154 per year compared to people who maintained their weight according to a study from researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Portland, Oregon.

“[A]pproximately 60 percent of obese children aged 5 to 10 years had at least one cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor--such as elevated total cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin, or blood pressure--and 25 percent had two or more risk CVD risk factors” according to a report on Childhood Obesity from the Institute of Medicine published September 30, 2004.

The causes of childhood obesity include city designs that discourage walking, family pressure to minimize food costs which results in the consumption of high fat, high calorie convenience foods, reduced access to fruit and vegetables, decreased opportunity for physical activity, and reduced leisure time for physical activity due to television watching and video games according to a report on Childhood Obesity from the Institute of Medicine published September 30, 2004.

“Obesity-associated annual hospital costs for children and youth more than tripled over two decades, rising from $35 million in 1979-1981 to $127 million in 1997-1999” according to a report on Childhood Obesity from the Institute of Medicine published September 30, 2004.

Increases in obesity account for 27 percent of the growth in health care spending per capita from 1987 to 2001, 22 percent of the increased spending for hyperlipidemia, 38 percent of the increased spending for diabetes, and 41 percent of the increased spending for heart disease according to a new analysis.

Medical costs in the U.S. associated with obesity were estimated to be $75 billion per year as of 2003 according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The direct costs of lack of physical activity, defined conservatively as absence of leisure-time physical activity, are approximately $24 billion or 2.4% of the U.S. health care expenditures according to a recent paper (Colditz, 1999).

The cost of lost productivity related to obesity among Americans ages 17???64 is $3.9 billion according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

$7.3 billion according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

$3.4 billion according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

$4.1 billion according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. This is 17 percent of the total cost of hypertension.

$21.2 billion according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

As of 2001, the total cost was $98 billion according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

$8.8 billion according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.