Summary: The Healthcare Costs Of Obesity

Across the United States, seventy-eight million adults and thirteen million children are fighting the health and emotional effects of obesity. (“The Healthcare Costs of Obesity.”) These research trends suggest that by the year 2030, fifty-one percent of the U.S. population will be obese, costing the country up to sixty billion dollars in treatment and over five hundred billion dollars in lost economic productivity. Many people believe the only way to prevent obesity rates from rising is to increase physical activity levels in all ages. These individuals presume the reason behind obesity’s rise is due to a lack of physical activity in all age groups. The issue is while obesity rates have skyrocketed over the last thirty years, physical activity …show more content…
Although physical activity has many health benefits, it is not as efficient as dieting is in the fight against obesity and aiding individuals to lose weight. Every year, citizens of the United States spend a combined-total of one-hundred-ninety billion dollars on health issues related to obesity. (“The Healthcare Costs of Obesity.”) These statistics display that eight obesity-related diseases account for seventy-five percent of all health care costs in the U.S. These problems range from diabetes, stroke, and the leading cause of death in the United States, heart disease. The research has also proven that childhood obesity alone is responsible for fourteen-billion dollars worth of direct medical costs. Obese individuals are not the only group of people that are feeling the financial effects of obesity. The effects of obesity are now spreading into economic productivity. Business owners are enduring more monetarily than …show more content…
These individuals believe the root cause of their weight issues is due to their insufficient amount of exercise. While a lack of exercise can contribute to weight gain, it is not the reason why obesity rates have steadily rose over the years; over-consumption of food is. “In the past 30 years, as obesity has rocketed, there has been little change in physical activity levels in the western population. This places the blame for our expanding waistlines directly on the type and amount of calories consumed.” (Campbell) Being active does not prevent obesity, nor does it equate to being healthy. Many people are under the impression that their active lifestyle will cancel out their daily intakes of junk food. While an individual may exercise for an hour every day, what they consume during the other twenty-three hours is much more crucial to living a healthy lifestyle. This furthers the idea that having a well-balanced diet is more effective in combating obesity than physical activity is, and that exercise alone is not an efficient form of weight