Reducing Obesity: Policy Strategies from the Tobacco Wars*

Obesity Sickens, Kills, and Creates Significant Societal Costs

For the first time since the Civil War, American life expectancy is projected to decrease.¹ The reason: diseases related to obesity.

Obesity now affects one in six children and more than one in three adults.^{2, 3} Obesity rates have more than doubled over the past 40 years, and the percentage of children age six to 11 who are obese has quadrupled,⁴ climbing from 4 to 18.8%; 40% of American adults will be obese by 2015.⁵ Obesity and excess weight contribute to more than 20 chronic illnesses, ranging from diabetes and hypertension to conditions with less well-known links to obesity, such as colon cancer.⁶ In 2000, obesity caused an estimated 112,000 deaths.⁷ With each obese employee estimated to cost employers 20 lost days of work a year, obesity adversely affects productivity more than any other health problem.

Rising obesity rates also affect health care spending.⁸ In 2009, obesity and overweight together will add $228 billion to the nation’s health care bills.

This issue affects all of us, including the non-obese. Obesity increases health insurance premiums for the average non-obese worker by an average of $150 a year in 1998 dollars,⁹ totaling $25.6 billion in extra premium costs.