Some days it seems as though everyone is mad at the American consumer. Everyone that has to treat them, employ them or insure them that is. How many times a week do you hear that we don’t take care of ourselves? Want the most expensive treatment? And don’t care how much it costs?
I often feel compelled to defend the consumer because I truly believe it’s just our turn after a long line of scapegoats in the rising health care cost debate. But then I read another study about obesity: One in three American adults and one in six American children are obese, a new government report shows. This amounts to a whopping one third of adult Americans have a BMI over 30. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that the medical costs of caring for our obese friends, families and fellow Americans averages about $147 billion a year!
The only good news in the report is that the number of obese has actually stabilized over the past decade. The really bad news is that people who are obese are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, certain cancers, high cholesterol, liver and gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis and gynecological problems.
It’s hard to defend our behavior when it can be prevented. It’s also hard to think about taking costs out of the system when consumers are turning into patients in droves.
