Major Finding: Between 1987 and 2007, health care spending on normal-weight adults grew by 65%, spending on overweight adults grew by 61%, and spending on obese adults grew by 111%.
Data Source: Congressional Budget Office.
Disclosures: None.
If current trends continue and 37% of Americans are obese by 2020, health care spending per person will rise from $4,550 in 2007 to about $7,760 in 2020. But a decrease in the obesity rate would reduce total per capita health care spending by only a few percentage points, according to the report.
For example, if obesity rates level off at their current 28% share of the population, health care spending will rise 3% less, to total about $7,500 per person in 2020, the CBO report said. And if obesity in the United States falls to its 1987 level by 2020, projected spending per adult would total $7,230, about 7% lower than if obesity rates continue to rise, the study found.
Even though reducing levels of obesity could also reduce the amount spent on health care, designing public policies to achieve that goal is difficult, and the antiobesity initiatives themselves cost money, the CBO report said.
“The costs of ongoing interventions are likely to offset at least part of any reductions in health care spending attributable to weight loss, although the improvements in health that would result might still make the interventions an appropriate use of public or private funds,” the report said.
The report – “How Does Obesity in Adults Affect Spending on Health Care?” – found that health care spending per adult grew substantially in all weight categories between 1987 and 2007, but the rate of growth was much faster among obese individuals than for people of normal body weight.
The percentage of adults considered obese rose from 13% in 1987 to 28% in 2007, while the share of adults considered overweight increased slightly during that period, the CBO report said. Meanwhile, the percentage of adults with normal body mass indexes dropped from 52% to 35%.
Overall, health care spending for all adults rose almost 80% from 1987 to 2007, from $2,560 to $4,550, according to the CBO report. Spending on normal-weight adults grew by 65% in those 2 decades, while spending on overweight adults grew by 61% in the same time frame. However, spending on obese adults grew by 111%.
Specifically, spending for obese adults exceeded spending for normal-weight adults by about 8% in 1987 and by about 38% in 2007. The CBO report said the gap in spending between the two groups may reflect several factors, including changes in health status for the obese and advances in technology that offer new treatments for conditions that plague the obese.
Spending on obesity-related diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia generally is higher for obese adults, but normal-weight adults also develop these conditions, the CBO report pointed out.
Spending on obesity-related diseases accounted for about 60% of the $1,530 difference in total spending between the obese and normal-weight adults in 2007, the report calculated.
“That finding leaves about 40% of the spending differential unexplained and perhaps attributable to factors other than body weight,” the report said.