Diet-related disease drives up health-care costs, study shows

07-27-2009

Each obese patient cost health insurers, federal programs $1,429, or 42 percent more than normal-weight patient in 2006, study shows. Obesity-related medical treatments cost $147 billion in 2008, an 87 percent increase in past decade; rates of obesity, a major cause of diabetes, stroke, heart attacks, have more than doubled in last 30 years. Last year, Medicare spent $7 billion on diet-related disease drugs. A person is obese if body mass index is greater than 30 or weighs about 186 pounds for a person who is five feet, six inches tall. And: Calculate your BMI (click 'See also').

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Tags: BMI, body mass index, CDC, diabetes, diet-related disease, fat, Health Affairs, health insurance, heart attack, high blood pressure, hypertension, medical costs, Medicare, obese, obesity, stroke




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