A new study by the Society of Actuaries – those folks who figure out all the odds that help insurance companies make money – estimates that the total economic cost of overweight and obese people in the U.S. and Canada is $300 billion a year. Canadians are better off: 90% of the total is attributed to the U.S.
Where are those costs? Increased need for medical care and loss of economic productivity from excess mortality (i.e., too many die) and disability.
Whether you agree with Michelle Obama’s latest partnership with Walmart or not, she IS raising the conversation about obesity to the highest levels. And rightly so. Overweight and obesity are reaching epidemic rates.
The actual numbers break out this way:
- $127 billion – Total cost of excess medical care caused by overweight and obesity
- $49 billion – Economic loss of productivity caused by excess mortality
- $43 billion – Economic loss of productivity caused by disability for active workers
- $72 billion – Economic loss of productivity caused by overweight or obesity for totally disabled workers
Get a copy of the SOA’s overweight and obesity study here.