Published on November 20, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Medill News Service/McClatchy: "Spending to treat the health effects of
obesity, $86 billion last year, will quadruple over the next decade, and almost half of U.S. adults will be obese by 2018, according to the annual America's Health Rankings study. Doctors who participated in the study warned that if the trends continue and obesity rates keep rising, spending on the health effects of obesity — defined as being 20 percent or more above an individual's recommended weight — will grow to $344 billion by 2018. ... If obesity rates held at current levels, on the other hand, the U.S. would save nearly $200 billion in health care costs, the data show" (Claytor, 11/19).