Question

Why is the obesity epidemic within the U.S. bad for hospitals? How does the increased rate of obesity affect hospitals?

Answer 1

Obesity is a disease that acts as a gateway to other life threatening diseases, as such; it has adverse effects on American healthcare and the American tax- payer pay for it. A new study found that obesity costs the American healthcare system a whopping $ 147 billion annually ( Finkelstein, Strombotne and Popkin 2) . That's a massive price tag for a disease that is preventable. It's more disconcerting because 10 years ago, that number was at $ 78.4 billion. It means that the cost of treating the same disease has doubled within 10 years. Medicare has also upped the cost of coverage for obese people to more than an additional $ 2,000 a year. It simply means that more money is being redirected into treating obesity and if obesity continues to scale the way it does, it will increase demand for treatment for the diseases which it promotes.