The Land of the Free, and the Home of the Fat — How Obesity Eats into Our Wallets

The last time I visited China, the tour guides tried to tell me that that I am fat with a phrase that roughly translates to “as round as pearls and as shiny as oil”, which is meant to be complimentary to the beauties of ancient dynasties. When we visited the Stone Forest attraction in Kunming, the tourguide related a story of a Chinese American couple who couldn’t fit through the spaces between the stone pillars, and could not enjoy walking through the natural wonder. In America I am considered petite, being only size 2, but in China I couldn’t even zip up the extra large pants. That experience is what led me to research fat in America, and it’s alarming how much we spend on obesity-related issues. This is not a post meant to belittle overweight people, but simply a small compilation of facts and figures about the cost of our collective fat.

Fat Healthcare Costs — You may be amongst the 40% of Americans who are not overweight, but you are probably still paying a percentage of your taxes towards treating the obesity of others. According to the Center of Disease Control, the approximate cost of obesity-related healthcare is an incredible 78.5 billion dollars in 1998, of which 37.6 billion were paid by Medicaid or Medicare. Adjusting the total cost for inflation using the CPI calculator, it’s about 100,000,000,000 dollars in 2007, and the actual cost is possibly even larger since healthcare costs have risen much more than the average inflation in recent years. The put this in perspective, our fat-related health costs beat the gross domestic products of about 130 countries.

Fat Insurance Costs — The above healthcare costs only account for the money spent for healthcare and not the insurance. Obesity is considered a payout risk to insurance companies and health insurance could be a lot pricier for an obese person.

Fat Fuel Costs – It makes sense that it takes more energy to move more weight. An article last year states that Americans are consuming 1 billion extra gallons of gas each year compared to 1960 due to the extra weight. Similarly, airplanes are also using more fuel because people are getting heavier on average.

Fat Death Costs– This may seem morbid, but those extra pounds of the deceased can increase the funeral expenditures of those left behind. The BBC reported that larger coffins is becoming more prevalent and some crematoria actually need to upgrade their furnaces to accommodate the overweight.

What Can We Do About It?

Mandated Exercise — I remember that in school I always had PE classes where I had to exercise approximately one hour a day. After I graduated college and started a job where I sit all day and type, I gained approximately fifteen pounds. It also didn’t help that there were tons of free snacks and sodas in the office kitchen. If the government or work place has some kind of mandated exercise, then perhaps a lot of extra love handles can be shed.

Eat More Healthy Food — High calorie and fat foods generally appear cheaper, but considering the long term health, energy, and social costs of being overweight, it’s probably more financially prudent to eat fresh and healthy food.

Diet Together — My mom used to be very overweight, but she has lost a lot of flab because my dad loves to go outdoors and takes her hiking. At first, she said she hated hiking, but the more she hiked the more she enjoyed it. It’s much easier to diet with friends and family since you’ll often eat the same food and participate in the same activities.

I will not address the emotional costs of being overweight in this post because those are beyond financial. Some people are really overweight because of medical problems and no matter how hard they try, they can’t lose weight. For the rest of us, losing that extra bit of weight can save all of us a lot of money and stress in the long run.

Share This

Related Posts