Restructure Medicare & Medicaid: Social Factors—
Rising Obesity Pushes Up Healthcare Cost
e An estimated 7% of $2.1 trillion healthcare costs (including those linked to diabetes, cancer, heart / respiratory / joint diseases) were related to obesity in 2008. By comparison, that’s more than all corporate income tax revenue that year.
Note: Nearly half of all people in the U.S. with European ancestry carry a variant of the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene, vs. 25% of U.S. Hispanics, 15% of African Americans and 15% of Asian Americans, per UCLA.
Source: “Annual Medical Spending Attributable To Obesity: Payer- And Service-Specific Estimates."
Eric A. Finkelstein, Justin G. Trogdon, Joel W. Cohen, and William Dietz.
Health Affairs , July 27, 2009.
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1) Growing and Aging Population 2) Unhealthy Lifestyles
3) Possible Solutions
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