Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Obesity costs US 215 billion dollars: study
This article is about obesity and how it cost America so much money ($215 billion a year). The study went on to explain that through direct and indirect causes obesity costs the economy the $215 billion by medical expenses and lost productivity. The study was conducted by Brookings Institute found that medical costs for obese adults costs $147 billion more than their healthy peers and $14.3 billion more for obese children. Don't you feel it would be cheaper to put together extensive programs to prevent people from becoming obese? (i.e. school classes, government funded lunches for all schools, or some kind of government funded exercise facilities). Besides the direct costs of the medical expenses you also have to consider the other effects the obesity has on the economy such as costs that come from lost productivity, absensteeism, disability and premature death. With all this in mind would could be the answer to solve this problem? It doesn't seem to be this big of a problem in other countries.
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6 comments:
I agree that it would be way cheaper to put together extensive programs to prevent people from becoming obese rather than spending $215 billion on medical expenses. However, there are various factors that play in obesity (i.e. GM food and inadequate amount of exercise), thus what it comes down to is the personal commitment. If a person cannot control their personal eating habit no one can prevent that person for becoming overweight. The government can suggest diets; but in the end, it is the person's choice to eat healthy or junk food.
I agree. It's personal preferences that make people overweight. Of course junk food contributes largely to this obesity epidemic but if people committed to exercise regularly, they would not gain that much weight. I think technology advances such as cars, TVs, Internet, also have a big effect as well. In addition, people who live in big cities
are normally less overweight that those who live in others because they have more access to recreational activities everyday. For instance, New York city has a low obesity rate because people here walk on sidewalk everyday while people in Louisiana drive because everything is so far apart from each other. This creates a lazy habit and thus make people gain more weight and eventually lead to obesity.
I agree that we should add and sustain existing programs in schools and social sectors to make people healthier and more physically fit, not just as an investment to the economic well-being of the country, but also to stimulate growth in happiness (drawing a correlation between physical activity and an increase in standard of living).
I also think that we should cease some of the other cuts we have been forced to make from the education system that has adversely effected the American public like art, music, shop, and other electives along with PE. I think that dropping these classes in offered curriculum and as requirements is losing out on an investment that the school system could offer youths and the public.
I do agree with the above comments; however, I believe that it will be very hard to curtail obesity especially today when ready-to-go food, high energy drinks etc. are common and necessary. Parents today find it very hard to keep up with work (and overtime), taking their kids to school and various activities, making sure the house chores are complete etc. and thus are making use of more (somewhat unhealthy) options for meals. While trying to keep up with all of this, I find it difficult to believe that they will use sidewalks or go the gym rather than taking the car (faster) or lazying around for a bit (to get some rest).
Perhaps the government could give people incentives to make better personal choices in order to counteract this externality of cheap unhealthy foods. I would propose a small "sin tax" on foods and drinks with high sugar and fat contents, the revenues of which could be used to pay for P.E. classes and other programs. Any economic losses to individuals and businesses from the tax would probably be repaid through the savings of lower medical costs and higher productivity.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/20100926_Head_Strong__There_s_food_for_thought_on_Phila__menus.html
I just saw msnbc today and heard the news about the calories-posting requirement in Philly so I found this article. This is a great news and im glad that Phiily steps up to fight obesity. This requirement will help Americans a lot in choosing what's healthy for them.
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