America’s Great Big Fat Problem…is getting worse
America has a big, big, big problem.
According to the report F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2012, “if obesity rates continue on their current trajectories, by 2030…
- 13 states could have adult obesity rates above 60 percent,
- 39 states could have rates above 50 percent,
- and all 50 states could have rates above 44 percent”.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, this could lead to a 10x increase in the number of “new cases of type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke, hypertension and arthritis between 2010 and 2020—and double again by 2030″.
Obesity could contribute to more than…
- 6 million cases of type 2 diabetes,
- 5 million cases of coronary heart disease and stroke,
- and more than 400,000 cases of cancer in the next two decades.
But maybe you’re like me and take your health/fitness seriously and you don’t need to worry about these health warnings.
Unfortunately, this rise in obesity rates is going to affect you financially.
By 2030, medical costs associated with treating preventable obesity-related diseases are estimated to increase by $48 billion to $66 billion per year in the United States, and the loss in economic productivity could be between $390 billion and $580 billion annually by 2030.
Although the medical cost of adult obesity in the United States is difficult to calculate, current estimates range from $147 billion to nearly $210 billion per year.
This means….
- Your health insurance rates will increase
- Social healthcare costs increase
- Federal & state tax revenues are reduced due to lost productivity
And we all know what happens when government revenues can’t keep up with government spending…
- Your taxes are increased, and
- The quality & quantity of government services are decreased
so…what do YOU think…is it time that we did something real about reducing obesity across the board???
Reference
- F as in Fat report – pdf
- Report news release
- Obesity Analysis – State by State
- 2011 US Obesity Rates – brief
You Searched For...
Perfect Shape
September 20, 2012 at 1:53 am
Starting with 2010 no US state had an obesity rate of less than 20%. It’s estimated that health care in the US for obesity exceeded 100 billion annually.
It’s also the 2 preventable death causes in the US (after smoking) – alcohol is number 3.