Medical Expenses Related To Obesity Costs States Billions

Only because the rest of us are stupid enough to pay for their diseases of choice.

States spend up to $15 billion a year in medical expenses related to obesity, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International, Duke University, and the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The study, published online in Obesity, updates 2004 state-by-state estimates of obesity-attributable medical expenditures. The report also provides rough estimates of the share of obesity expenditures in each state that are funded by taxpayers through Medicare and Medicaid.

Total state-level estimates in 2009 dollars range from $203 million in Wyoming to $15.2 billion in California. Obesity-attributable Medicaid expenditures range from $38 million in Wyoming to $4 billion in New York, and Medicare expenditures range from $35 million in Wyoming to $3.4 billion in California.

"This evidence clearly indicates that obesity imposes high annual total and public sector medical costs on state budgets," said Justin Trogdon, Ph.D., a health economist at RTI and the paper's lead author. "The high costs emphasize the need to prevent and control obesity as a way to manage those costs."

Turn off the money spigot.

Watch the weight come off.