New Data Shows Obesity Costs Will Grow to $344 Billion by 2018

As Congress Seeks to Lower Health Care Costs, New Report Finds Obesity Costs
Will Quadruple Over the Next Decade Without Action

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new study released today
shows that rising obesity rates will continue to be an increasing burden on
the health care system over the next decade. The report, titled, "The Future
Cost of Obesity: National and State Estimates of the Impact of Obesity on
Direct Health Care Expenses," is the first to estimate obesity prevalence and
costs at the state and national level 10 years from now. Based on research by
Emory University health care economist Ken Thorpe, Ph.D., Executive Director
of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD), the report was
commissioned by UnitedHealth Foundation, Partnership for Prevention, and
American Public Health Association in conjunction with their annual America's
Health Rankings report.

The new data shows that if current trends continue, 43 percent of U.S. adults
will be obese and obesity spending will quadruple to $344 billion by 2018.
However, if obesity rates are instead held at current levels, the U.S. would
save nearly $200 billion in health care costs.

"At a time when Congress is looking for savings in health care, this data
confirms what we already knew: obesity is where the money is," said Thorpe.
"Because obesity is related to the onset of so many other illnesses, stopping
the growth of obesity in the U.S. is vital not only to our health -- but also
to the solvency of our health care system."

The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD), the leading national voice
for advancing health reforms that tackle obesity and other chronic health
issues, believes that a top priority must be addressing the obesity epidemic
through meaningful, evidence-based approaches, including:

-- Removing barriers and empowering Americans to take control of their
health.
-- Educating Americans to see being obese as a serious medical condition
that significantly heightens their risk for other health problems
-- Ensuring that fear about the stigma of obesity does not eclipse the
need
to combat it
-- Redesigning our health care system to treat obesity like a preventable
medical condition

-- Engaging employers and communities to get them invested in promoting
wellness

"I am hopeful that health and wellness programs to prevent obesity and other
chronic conditions will remain a top priority in final legislation as health
reform moves through Congress," Thorpe said. "These are problems we can no
longer afford to ignore."

The report projects that obesity will surpass 50 percent of the adult
population in six states, with an associated increase in health spending
linked to obesity of more than $1,600 per person in each of these states:

"Worst" 2008 Obesity 2018 Obesity Total State Cost Cost Per Person
States Rate Rate (in millions) by 2018
by 2018
------- ------------ ------------ ---------------- ---------------
Kentucky 34.8% 51.2% $6,008 $1,836
-------- ---- ---- ------ ------
Maryland 31.2% 52.1% $7,686 $1,642
-------- ---- ------ ------
Mississippi 37.7% 52.2% $3,877 $1,757
----------- ---- ---- ------ ------
Ohio 33.9% 50.9% $16,222 $1,877
---- ---- ---- ------- ------
Oklahoma 35.2% 56.1% $5,102 $1,906
-------- ---- ---- ------ ------
South Dakota 32.7% 50.4% $1,008 $1,729
------------ ---- ---- ------ ------

The obesity rate will remain below 35 percent in only four states and the
District of Columbia; nevertheless, obesity-attributable health spending will
climb to more than $800 per person by 2018 in each state:

"Best" 2008 Obesity 2018 Obesity Total State Cost Cost Per Person
States Rate Rate (in millions) by 2018
by 2018
------ ------------ ------------ ---------------- ---------------
Colorado 23.8% 29.8% $3,235 $864
-------- ---- ---- ------ ----
Connecticut 26.1% 33.6% $2,907 $1,052
----------- ---- ---- ------ ------
Massachusetts 26.0% 33.9% $5,771 $1,119
------------ ---- ---- ------ ------
Virginia 30.2% 33.4% $6,789 $1,053
------------- ---- ---- ------ ------
DC 26.4% 29.2% $341 $933
-- ---- ---- ---- ----

Dr. Thorpe's study can be accessed at
www.fightchronicdisease.org/pdfs/CostofObesityReport-FINAL.pdf or at
www.americashealthrankings.org.

About the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease:
The PFCD is a national coalition of more than 120 patient, provider,
community, business and labor groups, committed to raising awareness of the
number one cause of death, disability, and rising health care costs in the
U.S.: poorly prevented and mismanaged chronic disease. For more information
about the PFCD and its partners, please visit:
http://www.fightchronicdisease.org.

SOURCE Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease

Anne Kott of Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, +1-202-778-6321