Obesity is among the leading causes of mortality and disability in the US. Healthcare systems have had to readjust their interventions and initiatives towards tackling obesity in the country with a key focus being on the cost of receiving health services related to the condition. Effectively, the high and rising costs of obesity in the country continue to inform several studies in the country. The study by Biener, Cawley, and Meyerhoefer extensively covers the issues on how the cost of weight-management and obesity impacts the cost of healthcare and the health system. The discussions are anchored on the impact of obesity as a health concern has on the cost of medication in the US.
The study was conducted in the US and published in 2017. The findings were based on editorial reviews of previous studies that examined pharmacotherapy, behavioral, and surgical interventions on patients with the cost factor of weight-management being central to the authors’ arguments (Biener, Cawley, & Meyerhoefer, 2017). The main objective of the study is to provide new information on the costs associated with obesity and weight management. The authors pose the question in their study as to how the various interventions; surgical, pharmacotherapy, and behavioral impact the healthcare management system.
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The study findings, as per the 2016 conference are distributed in the form of weight management, the casual weight of obesity, income dimensions as well as access to insurance cover. The Variable (IV) models proposed and used during the 2016 conference base their data on Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) that identify the period 2005 and 2010 to have seen a significant rise in the cost of medical costs for obesity in adults from about $3000 to $3500 (Biener, Cawley, & Meyerhoefer, 2017). The increase in cost per person for obese adults, as well as the rise in the general population that increased the numbers of obese people despite insignificant changes in prevalence percentages (Coulter et al., 2019). However, the increased numbers pushed up the prevalence rates in the country as well as the distribution patterns.
The article on the cost of obesity-related illnesses, done by Sarah Boseley, acts as supporting material in the impact of obesity and weight management has had on the overall cost of healthcare. The authors argue that the cost of preventive measures is projected to rise and become an ‘enormous burden’ to the general public (Boseley, 2017). In the article, the author projects that costs of palliative treatment for obesity and related illnesses are projected to be to a tune of 1.2 trillion by 2025. In her reporting, Boseley warns that obesity has reached a level that it is now considered an epidemic to the normal population. The article outlines the impact that weight issues pose on the healthcare systems in the US provided that the country as at the moment of reporting was recording among the highest of treatment bills rising at the rate of about $325 billion a year.
Adult obesity, as a health concern, poses among the serious challenges to the household stability and economic prosperity of the US as a country. The author corroborates the findings of the study by Adam Biener, John Cawley, and Chad Meyerhoefer that obesity is a health concern that has contributed significantly to the rising cost of healthcare in the country, consequently impacting the healthcare system in the country. The article is accurate in its reporting as well as estimations on the costs, with the author effectively referencing study findings from the World Obesity Federation as of 2014. The article does not leave out any critical information as it concentrates on how costs of healthcare shall impact the population access to health hence being a challenge in the country’s healthcare system.
References
Biener, A., Cawley, J., & Meyerhoefer, C. (2017). The high and rising costs of obesity to the US health care system. Journal of General Internal Medicine volume 32 , 6–8.
Boseley, S. (2017). Global cost of obesity-related illness to hit $1.2tn a year from 2025. The Guardian . Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/oct/10/treating-obesity-related-illness-will-cost-12tn-a-year-from-2025-experts-warn
Coulter, I., Herman, P., Ryan, G., Hilton, L., Hays, R. D., & Members of CERC Team. (2019). The challenge of determining appropriate care in the era of patient-centered care and rising health care costs. Journal of Health Services Research & Policy , 24 (3), 201-206.
