Conclusion

Obesity plays a large part in the current society. Not only is it a detriment to our mental and physical wellbeing, it also negatively affects the economy in multiple and significant ways. If the obesity epidemic continues to spiral out of control, the United States economy will be heavily hit with high costs and inefficient workers. It will be important to try and put a stop to the food addiction overcoming our nation.

Summary of why obesity negatively affects the U.S. economy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z87QLHGc-TU

Increased Transportation Costs

Obesity also negatively affects transportation. Being extremely overweight forces vehicles to use more fuel and possibly even the need of larger vehicles to transport large individuals. This proposes a direct cost, because more fuel will be needed and then bought, than if everyone were a healthy, normal weight. These transportation costs also include airplanes. All of this extra fuel needed is added up to be at an estimated $2.7 billion a year. As gas prices continue to rise, this will become more of an issue.
Transportation Costs of Obesity

Hammond, Ross A., and Ruth Levine. "The Economic Impact of Obesity in the United States." Dove Press (2010): 285-95. Brookings.edu. Dove Medical Press Ltd, 17 Aug. 2010. Web. 3 May 2012.

Decreased Income

It has been researched and studied in depth whether being obese affects one’s income. From a study done at the George Washington University it was found that being overweight and obese negatively impacts wages. The statistical results were that in 2004, obese women were paid $8,666 less than the average healthy working woman and males were paid $4,772 less. Four years later, women’s wages incurred a penalty of 14.6% less than normal weight women. If obese individuals are being paid less than their average weight coworker, and obesity is on the rise there is bound to be less money circulating in the economy. Just another reason why obesity has a extremely damaging impact on the United States economy.

http://naturalhealthdossier.com/2011/04/the-economics-of-obesity-why-are-poor-people-fat/

The less money made per year, the higher obesity percentage.

News Article

"New Research Finds Obesity Negatively Impacts Income, Especially for Women." Prnewswire.com. 2 Dec. 2011. Web. 4 May 2012.

                        

Productivity (Presenteeism)

This category of productivity involves the obese worker being present, but not be productive for the company due to his or her weight. A study was conducted where two researchers asked these obese employees to estimate the time that it took them to get to work, any lost time feeling fatigued or sick, and time lost due to lack of focus. They continued to calculate these hours lost and the amount of money it would be equal to. They found a result that was not surprising. These obese individuals had a higher amount of money being lost. They also concluded that the obese workers being present, but having very low productivity could be more detrimental than absenteeism.

Cost of Absenteeism and Presenteeism

_{https://brokernet.kp.org/broker/resources/kpbn_ca/workkp/total-health-and-productivity/what-lowers-productivity}

                                Obesity is one of the leading causes in presenteeism, second to depression.

Hammond, Ross A., and Ruth Levine. "The Economic Impact of Obesity in the United States." Dove Press (2010): 285-95. Brookings.edu. Dove Medical Press Ltd, 17 Aug. 2010. Web. 3 May 2012.

Productivity (Absenteeism)

This category of productivity is the largest that has been studied. It is productivity costs due to employees being absent from work for obesity-related health reasons. As is known, obesity causes many health complications. The unhealthier an employee is, the higher the likelihood the employee will miss work.  This results in money lost for the company and also puts a general burden on a business if that particular individual plays an important role in the success of the business.  A researcher found that in a division of Shell Oil Company located in the United States, that 3.73 days of work were lost per year for each obese worker compared to their normal-weight coworkers. He also found that these obese workers were also 194% more likely to use their paid time off. This study shows, that obesity affects businesses in many forms and could potentially cause employers to want to completely write off obese individuals as hard working citizens due to statistics like this.  Eventually causing problems with unemployment and thus, the economy.

_{http://www.healthhabits.ca/2011/10/18/americas-lifestyle-diseases-cost-economy-153-billion-year/}

Absenteeism

 Hammond, Ross A., and Ruth Levine. "The Economic Impact of Obesity in the United States." Dove Press (2010): 285-95. Brookings.edu. Dove Medical Press Ltd, 17 Aug. 2010. Web. 3 May 2012.

"Economic Impact of Obesity." Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity — What We Do — Economics — Topics:. Web. 4 May 2012.

Childhood Obesity and the Economic Future

Not only do these obese adults have higher medical costs incurred to them, but children also play a large role in these raised costs and premiums. The annual direct costs of childhood obesity in the US are estimated at about $14.3 billion. If obesity continues to spiral out of control, these children are on the path of life to continue being extremely unhealthy and drive up the medical costs even more. If people are paying large sums of money for healthcare, the only industry being successful will be the health field. And even then, the government will have to continue to shell out money for these costs, which could potentially cause more harm than good in the debt area. This is just one other reason obesity will negatively affect the economy in the future.

_{http://whatworks.wholechildeducation.org/blog/2010/12/}

Childhood Obesity Not Only Affects Health


Hammond, Ross A., and Ruth Levine. "The Economic Impact of Obesity in the United States." Dove Press (2010): 285-95. Brookings.edu. Dove Medical Press Ltd, 17 Aug. 2010. Web. 3 May 2012.

Increased Medical Costs

It is clear that being obese and unhealthy will lead to health complications and life-threatening diseases and thus follow into higher medical costs for the person, the insurance providers, and possibly the government (taxpayers). Some of these diseases such as, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and stroke all carry large price tags. These costs will not only apply to the overweight individual, but also to the society as a whole. Medical costs associated with obesity are also higher than people with complications from smoking, drinking, and general aging. A study was conducted at Kaiser Permanante in Oregon where they followed a group of 1, 286 subjects that were grouped into those who were healthy, overweight, or obese. They were followed for nine years to see what groups racked up the highest amount of costs with inpatient and outpatient care and prescriptions. The obese had 36% higher average annual healthcare costs than the healthy-weight group.  The overweight group had 37% higher prescription costs and 13% higher primary-care costs than the healthy subjects. . If obesity did not exist, private sector insurance would not bear nearly as many costs as they do currently and public sector (Medicare/Medicaid) would be spending 8.5%-11.8% less. Conclusively, unhealthy and obese people tend to pay more in medical costs than the average healthy person.

                                          _{http://www.thevisualmd.com/health_centers/nutrition_and_metabolism_health/obesity/obesity_a_very_big_problem}

Medical Cost Information
Hammond, Ross A., and Ruth Levine. "The Economic Impact of Obesity in the United States." Dove Press (2010): 285-95. Brookings.edu. Dove Medical Press Ltd, 17 Aug. 2010. Web. 3 May 2012.