title: Annual medical spending attributable to obesity: payer-and service-specific estimates.
abstract: In 1998 the medical costs of obesity were estimated to be as high as $78.5 billion, with roughly half financed by Medicare and Medicaid. This analysis presents updated estimates of the costs of obesity for the United States across payers (Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers), in separate categories for inpatient, non-inpatient, and prescription drug spending. We found that the increased prevalence of obesity is responsible for almost $40 billion of increased medical spending through 2006, including $7 billion in Medicare prescription drug costs. We estimate that the medical costs of obesity could have risen to $147 billion per year by 2008.
authors.affiliation: RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA. finkelse@rti.org
authors.forename: Eric A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Finkelstein
authors.forename: Justin G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Trogdon
authors.forename: Joel W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dietz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology