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Obesity Is Costly
Obesity Can Double Your Medical Expenses
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that during the last 20 years adult obesity has increased significantly in the United States. Around 30 percent of U.S. adults 20 years of age and older (over 60 million people) are obese. And, this problem is increasing.
Overweight young people more than tripled since 1980. Among children and teens aged 6–19 years, 16 percent (over 9 million young people) are considered overweight.
If you are overweight, you are at risk for life shortening and life threatening diseases. You will also have an increased risk of running out of your savings while paying for obesity related illnesses. Some of these obesity related illnesses are:
- Hypertension
- Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
- Type 2 diabetes
- Coronary heart disease
- Stroke
- Gallbladder disease
- Osteoarthritis
- Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
- Some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)
In 1998 total adult medical expenditures attributable to overweight and obesity is estimated to be $51.5 billion using Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data and $78.5 billion using 1998 National Health Accounts (NHA) data. For obesity alone, the estimated costs are $26.8 billion and $47.5 billion, respectively. The inclusion of nursing home expenditures in the NHA estimates causes most of the difference between the MEPS and NHA results.
This means that 50% to 60% of the medical costs for adult Americans is due to obesity. While most of this expense is covered by private medical insurance, Medicare, or Medicade, between 13% an 16% of these expenses are out-of-pocket costs you must pay.
If you are planning for your financial future, you should take into account the nearly doubling of out-of-pocket medical costs due to obesity. If you are obese, this means you must save more money during your working years to pay for your obesity related illnesses after retirement.
Your best safeguard to eliminate these extra expenses is to control your weight right now. Maintaining proper weight is a lifetime habit. A proper diet combined with exercise can help keep you healthy long into your retirement years.
Here are a few resources you can examine to help you stay slim, trim, and healthy:
Fat Loss for Idiots You are overweight for the most simple of reasons -- because you're eating the wrong foods, the wrong types of calories per meal, and you're also eating meals in the wrong patterns each day.
Fat Loss -- Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle Lifetime natural bodybuilder, personal trainer, nutritionist, and success coach from Net Jersey teaches you how to turbo-charge your metabolism, gain muscle, burn off body fat, and develop unstoppable motivation.
Weight Loss by the Numbers -- How I Lost 28 Pounds and 3 Pants Sizes in Only 3 Weeks At last, the truth about permanent weight loss will be exposed, so that YOU can Realistically and Easily Lose Your Excess Weight, and get your Confidence back - from the comfort of your own home.
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