Obesity is a situation where by one becomes overweight or body weight exceeds the normal limit due to overeating and lack of doing exercises. Obesity has in America come to be regarded as a chronic disease because of its prevalence.
It is one of the killer diseases that are preventable in fact, it ranks second after cigarette smoking. Obesity is a complicated disease at it leads to the emergence of other diseases which are also fatal if they are not treated. This is what makes the cost of treating obesity in America to be high. The other reason that is making the cost to be high is the high number of people who are suffering from the disease.They increase the demand resulting to the shortage of these services hence the cost goes up.
Due to large number of people that are suffering from the disease, the health systems are being stretched economically beyond their limit. This essay is going to discuss about the prevalence of the disease in America and will give facts and figures to support this. It will also try to shed light on the relationship between obesity prevalence and high cost of health care or in other words how obesity impacts on the health care systems in America in terms of service provision and cost.Obesity increases ones chances of getting cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancer and diabetes. It is estimated that about 58 million Americans are suffering from the disease and a third of them are said to be adults. Obesity results when there is an imbalance in the body between the amount of energy taken and the amount spent.
As per the National Institute of Heath, increase in body weight by about 20 percent over what is deemed to be the normal body weight is seen as health hazard although being underweight could also lead to health problems.NHPF Background Paper) Due to its high prevalence, many Americans have lost their lives while others are left suffering. Going by the figures provided by the Center for Disease Prevention, about 129. 6 million Americans are either suffering from obesity or are overweight. As per the 2004 survey that was conducted by the National and Nutritional Examination, sixty seven percent of those aged between 20 and 74 were either overweight or obese but when this was looked in terms of Body Mass Index (BMI), 34 percent were said to be obese.
The rates of obesity in the United States in the last decades have been increasing by over sixty percent (60%) according to Mackenzie (233). The issue of obesity is not a recent phenomenon in the United States of America but the rate at which it is rising of late has evoked conscience among the policymakers especially because of the substantial increase in the cost of providing health care to those suffering from obesity. This is due to the high number of sick people, “The prevalence of obesity among US adults has increased dramatically in the recent years.In 1991, only 12 percent of adults were obese, representing a nearly 75 percent increase.
” (NHPF 2) According to NHIS data that was released in 1994, it was estimated that 5. 7 percent of $51. 6 billion dollars were set aside to meet direct cost for obesity. In 1995, the cost of treating obesity related diseases such as diabetes, cancer, hypertension among others was $ 32. 4 billion, the total cost that was spent on direct cost was estimated to be $ 51.
6 billion and this is equivalent to 5. 7 percent of the money that was spent on national health care.Again, there was $ 47. billion that was spent on indirect cost. In total, both direct and indirect amounted to $ 99 billions. (Keller 56-59) It is estimated that Medicare which is government’s institution in the period between 1996 and 1997 according to the National Health Interview Survey of 1997 and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey spent about $ 23.
5 billion to provide health care to the overweight and obese Americans. In 2000, it was estimated that about $117 billion were spent on obesity and $ 61 billion of this amount was meant for meeting the direct cost while the remaining amount was meant for indirect costs.Many Americans have died from obesity and this is because the disease has serious consequences. There are other diseases that are associated with obesity such as diabetes, cancer among others. These related diseases affect ones mental status and body’s general heath. Apart from this, the disease costs the victim and their family a lot of money from their pockets (Gruenigen, et al 1650).
The health system are also affected by this because currently the number is overwhelming as there are no enough funds to finance free provision of heath care to all obese Americans and this becomes one of the greatest challenges that the government is facing.It has economically affected the health system and that is why the issue has demanded renewed attention so as to address the problem before it goes out of hand. (Kelly 52) The US government spends huge amount of money but the ever increasing figure of those suffering has surpassed the government’s target. This money is meant for taking care of both direct and indirect cost and here the former means the money that is spent in treatment, diagnosis, hospitalization, medication and obesity prevention while the latter means the much that the government loses due to mortality and morbidity.
Wolf 141)It is said that the cost of treating children suffering from obesity is three times higher than that of children that are not overweight or obese. It is estimated that US government spends 117 US dollars on both direct and indirect health care cost on obesity Of late, surveys that have been conducted show that the number of those suffering from obesity is more than the government can handle. The ratio of obesity prevalence and that of health care provision costs is rising proportionately.More recent studies that have been conducted show that the cost of providing health care and to treat obesity victims in US has been on the rise constantly. Today the government is unable to meet the cost of providing free health care to the Americans suffering from obesity.
The high number of those who are suffering has increased the demand for these services leading to an increase in the cost of health care. (Gruenigen, et al 1661) Even insurance firms are not left behind as they have also increased their premiums and therefore not many who are not economically well off can afford health insurance.According to Penman, “Nationally health care costs for treating problems that result from excess weight are enormous billion of dollars. That (cost) affects the general economy and is not just an American problem” (Goliath).
Big numbers of people suffering from obesity has particularly overwhelmed the rural healthcare systems and especially those that do not have enough specialists and infrastructures. Obesity in America is a very serious problem. Today it is regarded as chronic disease because of the number of those that are affected.Most people who suffer from obesity are vulnerable to suffer other diseases such as diabetes, cancer and hypertension. Obesity itself is not very costly but the cost of its treatment is increased by the other associated diseases. Of late, the US health systems have already been overwhelmed by the large number of people suffering from it something that has served as a wake up call to economic planners because the government cannot get the required fund to fund health care to the obese victims and the challenge is still there because the number is still increasing.
