Severe Obesity In Adults Cost State Medicaid Programs Nearly $8 Billion In 2013

Abstract

Efforts to expand Medicaid while controlling spending must be informed by a deeper understanding of the extent to which the high medical costs associated with severe obesity (having a body mass index of [Formula: see text] or higher) determine spending at the state level. Our analysis of population-representative data indicates that in 2013, severe obesity cost the nation approximately $69 billion, which accounted for 60 percent of total obesity-related costs. Approximately 11 percent of the cost of severe obesity was paid for by Medicaid, 30 percent by Medicare and other federal health programs, 27 percent by private health plans, and 30 percent out of pocket. Overall, severe obesity cost state Medicaid programs almost $8 billion a year, ranging from $5 million in Wyoming to $1.3 billion in California. These costs are likely to increase following Medicaid expansion and enhanced coverage of weight loss therapies in the form of nutrition consultation, drug therapy, and bariatric surgery. Ensuring and expanding Medicaid-eligible populations' access to cost-effective treatment for severe obesity should be part of each state's strategy to mitigate rising obesity-related health care costs.

Economic Burden of Obesity: A Systematic Literature Review

“…We included twenty-three studies in this review [29,30,31,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54]. Detailed characteristics of these studies are presented in Table 1.…”

“…Detailed characteristics of these studies are presented in Table 1. Eleven studies [29,30,38,39,40,44,45,46,50,53,54] used a top-down (population-based) approach and eleven studies applied a bottom-up (person-based) approach [31,35,36,37,41,42,43,47,48,51,52] to calculate the costs attributable to obesity. The top-down approach estimates economic costs by using aggregate data on mortality, morbidity, hospital admissions, general practice consultations, disease-related costs, and other health-related indicators along with population attributable fraction (PAF) or population attributable risk (PAR) to calculate attributable costs [55,56,57].…”

“…There were 17 studies from developed countries [31,35,36,37,39,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,51,52,54] and six studies from developing countries [29,30,38,40,50,53] according to the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) report. According to the WESP and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), there is no established convention for the designation of “developed” and “developing” countries, but in common practice, Japan, Canada, the USA and European countries, for example, are considered “developed” countries, while Mexico and Brazil are considered to be “developing” countries [59].…”

“…According to the WESP and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), there is no established convention for the designation of “developed” and “developing” countries, but in common practice, Japan, Canada, the USA and European countries, for example, are considered “developed” countries, while Mexico and Brazil are considered to be “developing” countries [59]. There were six studies from Germany [42,43,44,46,47,54], six from the USA [31,36,37,39,51,52], three from Brazil [30,38,40] and two from Canada [35,45]. …”

Effect of a Fructose Rich Diet in Vas Deferens Contractility in Rats

“…By 2030, almost half of the population will be clinically overweight or obese (1). Obesity threatens the public health on a worldwide scale and is associated with gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuromuscular, genitourinary and oncological diseases, which may cause high morbidity and mortality (2).…”