America Adjusts for Obesity



Obese man early 20th century (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 
24/7 Wall St.

Posted: May 8, 2012 at 6:31 am

Douglas A. McIntyre


Authors of a new CDC study, … reported that the number of Americans considered obese will rise to 42% of the population by 2030. The medical costs of the shift will be $550 billion between now and then. And those medical costs are only part of it. America is preparing for a world of increased numbers of obese people the way it has for its aging population. Nothing about how business and the medical community treat these citizens, as people in the United States gain weight, will ever be the same.




Services must accommodate obese people with specialist equipment such as much wider chairs. Bakewell J (2007). "Bariatric furniture: Considerations for use.". Int J Ther Rehabil (7) : 329–33 . . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Businesses have begun to take on the price of obesity already. The New York Times reports that the average airline seat is made to bear a load of 170 pounds in a crash. The average America male weighs 194 pounds and the average woman 165 pounds. The FAA probably will need to issue new rules for the support strength of seats, and these new seats will cost money. And there are PR effects, too. There have been recent accounts of how airlines handle, or mishandle, wildly overweight passengers.

As scientists turn their focus to the future of the obese population, they have even started to determine the extent to which the obese can safely exercise. … The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health published a report by Dr. Paul Jarle Mork of the Department of Human Movement Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. It recommends that obese people should get more exercise without too much concern about the effects of risk of knee and hip osteoarthritis. Even exercise equipment may be adjusted to help overweight Americans use gyms.




Obesity rates in Canadian provinces in 2005. Percent of population obese Percent of population obese or overweight Derived from data at this Statistics Canada study by Margot Shields and Michael Tjepkema. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Science, it seems, has begun to turn its problem-solving methods as much to obesity as to heart disease, cancer or Alzheimer’s disease. …Obesity may be the largest problem among that group of illnesses, particularly because of the role it plays in heart diseases, cancer and Type 2 diabetes.

A number of proposals have been put forward about how to cover the costs of a weight-gaining America. The taxes or medical insurance amounts that obese people pay could be increased. … The airlines could increase ticket prices for people who weigh more than 200 pounds, or 250, to pay for new seats and fuel. Food companies and restaurants might get tax breaks for preparing meals with fewer calories and less fat.




Obesity Campaign Poster (Photo credit: Pressbound)

Of course, the American way is to take no prejudicial action against people because of age or infirmity. The obese are, as a group, treated like the aged, the sick and the infirm so far. And, in a world in which politicians and the courts create and enforce rules, the obese are not likely to face discrimination. As individuals, they represent too many votes. They may even want to start their own version of the AARP.

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• Dire Obesity Prediction (pubcit.typepad.com)
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Obesity Costs America $4 Billion Per Year At The Pump

The Car Connection:

By  Richard Read

Now is the time when many Americans look up from their laptops and start thinking seriously about summer vacation.

What scientists call "Overweight" changes with our knowledge of human health (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Now is also the time when many of us look down and realize that the laps on which those laptops sit aren't as flat as they used to be. We've picked up a few pounds over the winter -- pounds that become increasingly harder to shed as we get older.

But weight gain isn't just a problem for folks trying to squeeze into last year's swimsuits; it's also a problem for those of us trying to cope with today's high gas prices. According to an article at MSN, America's increasing obesity rate has led to a huge increase in fuel consumption. All told, those extra pounds lead up to $4 billion in extra gasoline costs.

How is that possible?

Some would say that the link between obesity and gasoline isn't rocket science, but in fact, it is.

It costs around $1,000 to put one kilogram of material into orbit. So, to put two kilograms into orbit, it costs $2,000. Double the weight means double the cost. Most of that expense is fuel.

The same holds true in our cars. All things being equal, it takes roughly twice as much energy to move 200 pounds as it does 100 pounds. More weight equals more fuel consumption.

(That said, even though our waistlines have expanded, our gasoline usage hasn't fully doubled. To do that, we'd have to double the weight of the passengers and the car, meaning that if an average car weighs around 4,000 pounds, we'd have to weigh 4,000 pounds ourselves. Thankfully, we're not there yet.) 

How much is this costing us? According to Sheldon Jacobson at the University of Illinois, obesity forces America to use a whopping 938 million gallons of gas more than we would if we were a leaner, meaner nation. Which means that many of those super-sized gains in fuel efficiency we've seen in recent years are, to a degree, canceled out by all those delicious tuna melts we've been scarfing down. 

Heck, it's so bad that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has had to beef up the child-size dummies used in crash tests to account for America's larger kids.

But wait, it gets worse.

We're not the only ones gaining weight. Our cars are doing it, too.

Obviously, American cars have to be bigger to accommodate our bigger bodies. But even when we were slimmer, Americans liked larger rides. Unlike our counterparts in Europe, we've got plenty of elbow room in the U.S., and we like to use it. Bigger cars typically mean weightier cars, and weightier cars eat up fuel efficiency.

And lets not forget all the things we prefer in our rides nowadays, like infotainment systems, heads-up displays, and powerful engines. Plus, we travel with a raft of safety gizmos like airbags, rearview cameras, and their ilk. All of that stuff weighs us down. In fact our colleagues at Green Car Reports recently looked at two Hondas made 30 years apart and found that the model from the 1980s was actually more fuel efficient than its present-day counterpart.

The (big) bottom line

Just to be clear, we're not pointing fingers at the American public. Several of your dedicated writers -- this one included -- could stand to lose a pound or 20. (Okay, make it 30.)

Nor are we implying that it's only a problem in America. True, we're at the vanguard of the obesity problem because we have loads of land for growing crops and livestock, a vast network for fast- and processed-food distribution, and a relatively affluent population to enjoy that food.

But other parts of the world are catching up. In Europe, Asia, and elsewhere, obesity is a growing problem. It's going to be something that we all have to account for in healthcare, industrial design, and, of course, in transportation.

Related articles

• U.S. obesity costs soar as nation packs on pounds (whptv.com)
• Obesity Costs A Fortune For Employers, Employees, And Government (inquisitr.com)
• Study: Obesity adds $190 billion in health costs (radio.woai.com)

Those Added Pounds can cost Big Bucks

Image via Wikipedia

September 22, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR 2009 Ultimate Buyer's Guide) – Carrying the extra pounds is not only a major health hazard, but also can represent a big hit in the pocketbook, according to a new study.

Image via WikipediaAn Associated Press news report said George Washington University researchers started with the cost of obesity-related medical care and then tacked on things like employee sick days, lost productivity, even the need for extra gasoline.

The result for the annual cost of being obese: $4,879 for a woman and $2,646 for a man. That's far more than the cost of being merely overweight — $524 for women and $432 for men,

The report also averaged in the economic value of lost life from obesity-related premature deaths, which brought women's annual obesity costs up to $8,365, and men's to $6,518.

Health policy professor and study co-author Christine Ferguson said the difference between the genders is due to the fact that larger women earn less than skinnier women, while wages don't differ when men pack on the pounds.  Researchers had expected everybody's wages to suffer with obesity, but "this indicates you're not that disadvantaged as a guy, from a wage perspective," Ferguson told the Associated Press.

Finally, when it comes to obesity costs, the research found that nearly 1 billion additional gallons of gasoline have been used every year because of increases in car passengers' weight since 1960.

Researchers analyzed previously published studies to come up with a total obesity-related cost total.

The research report is available here.
PLANSPONSOR staff
editors@plansponsor.com

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Wellness infused with motivation, measurement and management

Employee Benefit News

By Bruce Shutan

The blind spot of employee wellness programs is they tend to focus on telling employees what they should be doing to live healthier without addressing how people are motivated to make changes or helping sustain desired behaviors. ...

Participation in {one well-structured wellness} program can range anywhere from 40% to 85% depending on how a company designs their program and what incentives they offer, whereas ... the number tends to be only about 5% to 15% among traditional programs. Moreover, because the focus is on motivation, measurement and management, corporate clients have reported a return on investment that’s as high as 5:1 over the course of a year based on lower medical costs and precursor conditions to chronic illnesses and an increase in employee productivity.

Culture of prevention

One strategic position that {this wellness program} seeks to reinforce when helping companies develop a culture of prevention that rewards personal responsibility is that the interests of employers and employees are aligned because both parties are seeking to contain mounting health care costs.

Many of these expenses are clearly preventable in that they’re related to lifestyle – producing poor health outcomes that are driving down productivity, spiking absenteeism and disability claims, triggering presenteeism and threatening profitability.

Milliman Inc. analysts recently noted that a typical family of four will spend $18,074 on average for medical care in 2010 – a 7.8% increase from the previous year. But perhaps most alarming is that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 75% of the nation’s health care costs, or $1.5 trillion, are traced to chronic diseases, most of which are preventable. …

{a well-structured wellness program} favors budget-neutral employee incentives that are aligned with preventative strategies that result in healthy behaviors. The approach is akin to a good-driver discount in that individuals who exhibit healthy behaviors are rewarded just as those with an accident-free driving record. Employees who participate in health and wellness programs, for example, would be eligible to receive a discount on their monthly health insurance premiums …

The initial focus is on physical activity because of its high impact in preventing diseases that are driving health care cost increases, as well as how easily it’s measured. … [It’s] easy to track the number of miles walked or calories burned by simply wearing a pedometer.

Making programs fun

Another key component of this proactive approach is to encourage social interaction with friends and colleagues, which often drives physical activity on a daily basis. … But in order to do these programs justice, employers need to recognize that there are different behavioral levers to motivate employees.

...[A] biometric measurement station ... enables employees to track key measures such as their weight, body fat and blood pressure.

… Using these measurement stations provides real-time and accurate data that’s provided to the employer in an aggregated fashion ... So employees get to accurately track their progress over time and the company gets to track the results of their employee population as a whole. ...

To learn more, download the Virgin HealthMiles white paper, PAY-FOR-PREVENTION™:An Emerging Health and Productivity Paradigm.

About the author Bruce Shutan, former managing editor of Employee Benefit News, is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.

Employers Admit to Discriminating against the Overweight

PLANSPONSOR.com

January 21, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A survey by a U.K. weight loss program provider finds employers pass up overweight job candidates because they assume the candidates are "lazy," "lack self control," and are "not hard workers."

According to a press release, the survey of 2,000 people by Slimming World and YouGov also found that when people who are overweight do get a job they are twice as likely to earn a low salary and four times more likely to suffer bullying about their weight. They are six times more likely to feel their appearance has caused them to be overlooked for promotion.
Data from the survey's 227 employers indicates that male bosses are particularly discriminatory. One in four male bosses say they would turn down a potential candidate based purely on their weight and one in 10 admit they have already done so, the press release said.
The survey found that people in the highest weight category (BMI 40+) are four times more likely than healthy weight people to ‘never’ feel confident and twice as likely to dread applying for a new job.
Rebecca Moore
editors@plansponsor.com

Wellness programs’ role in retention cited by nearly half of U.S. workers

Employee Benefit Adviser

Posted January 15, 2010 by Editorial Staff at 03:07PM.
Are wellness programs an effective employee retention tool? The results of a poll released Jan. 14 suggests that they are. In all, 45% of the employees surveyed said they would stay at their jobs longer because of the wellness programs their employers offered.
The online survey, sponsored by The Principal Financial Group, polled 1,102 employees at small and medium-sized companies (under 1,000 employees) and 602 retirees. It was conducted in late October.
The survey also found that 26% of employees miss fewer days of work because they participate in wellness programs. Just over half believe that wellness programs are very or somewhat successful in reducing health care costs, and about 30% participate primarily for that reason.
Most employees are interested in wellness programs that improve their physical fitness, the survey found. Onsite fitness facilities were the most desired programs at 27%, followed by fitness center discounts (23%) and weight management programs (19%). Apparently at least some employers were listening last year: Significantly more workers (15%) reported having access to fitness facilities in the fourth quarter of 2009 than a year earlier (11%).

A New Year's resolution: Pump up that wellness program

Employee Benefit Adviser

By Beth Taylor
December 1, 2009
A new year is about new beginnings. …[Now] … is a good time to pump up your … wellness programs. Whether [your] programs lost steam or never got off the ground, you can … plan for a jump-start in the new year with a few basic steps.

Brainstorm

Start by asking … why [your] wellness program stalled or hasn't started. What is at the root of the problem? Is it not knowing where to start, a lack of senior support, too little money or not enough time? Or all of the above? … Too many times, it is far easier, although much less satisfying, to simply not deal with the issue. …
Tackle each obstacle separately, but don't try to do it alone. There is power in brainstorming with others who have the same challenges. … Perhaps you … know employer groups in the community with thriving wellness programs. … Interacting with peers creates a dynamic synergy for new ideas.
Consider online wellness support groups and other online resources, such as the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, WELCOA or Mypyramid.gov. There is a wealth of information and support out there. Find the champions for your cause.

Make a plan

Don't let the momentum gained from brainstorming wither and die like so many New Year's resolutions. Create a plan from the best ideas and start with what you know. … Gather information such as:

• Employee demographics
• Employee survey results
• Wellness offerings from carriers
• EAP benefits
• Claims data

The data provide insight into employees' interests, habits and possible topics for education.
Establish a calendar of events or a timeline to serve as the framework throughout the year. A good place to start is by incorporating the national monthly observation calendar. You can download a copy from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Web site, healthfinder.gov. Events such as October's Breast Cancer Awareness and November's Great American Smoke Out receive a good deal of media attention. That attention helps reinforce your … worksite activities on wellness.

Start small

Starting and sustaining a wellness program is like running a marathon. The race begins with the first step, so start small. If it's a new wellness campaign, newsletters, brochures and "lunch and learns" on specific health topics are inexpensive, manageable first steps.
… If the wellness program stalled along the way, determine why and suggest a remedy. For example, if committee meetings don't produce results, introduce some "new blood." …
Whatever steps you take, measure your results. … Use the results to adjust strategies to keep employees interested in the program. If you don't measure it, you can't manage it.
Measuring results alone, however, may not provide the whole picture. A successful program encourages feedback. Invite "letters to the editor," evaluation forms or posts to an intranet. …
Feedback and results enable you to take the pulse of your … efforts. Together, they build a strong base for future planning for a more robust and comprehensive wellness program.

Just do it

Some New Year's resolutions never make it out of the box. …[It] does not matter how small the step, doing something is better than doing nothing. There may be false starts or stumbles along the way, but [you] can't finish what [you] don't start. Make 2010 the year they pump up that wellness program. Just do it.

---

Taylor is a consultant and a certified wellness program manager for San Diego's Intercare Insurance Solutions.

Total Benefits:Pay for (Patient) Performance

Plansponsor.com

 

Illustration By Olaf Hajek

Behavioral economics plays a big role in the success of wellness programs

"People are constantly making trade-­offs between immediate gratification and delayed benefits," says Kevin Volpp, Associate Professor of Medicine and Health Care Management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Employers could get better results in their wellness programs if they focused more on the immediate gratification, say Volpp and a team of academics currently researching the role of behavioral economics in these programs.

Volpp and Wharton School Professor of Health Care Management Mark Pauly call this approach "P4P4P": pay for performance for patients. Too often, they say, employers' wellness programs have had major incentive-related design flaws that hampered results. … Rather, people's psychological motivations should become a key part of wellness-program design, Pauly, Volpp, and their collabor­ators say, "Our human nature is a combination of rationality and irrationality. It is best to design a program that uses both approaches," Pauly says. "The rational thing is to be conscious of your mortality and doing something about it, … In some ways, life is too short to be rational all the time."

… "We have 25 years of research on the use of behavioral economics on the retirement-planning side, and we are now starting on the health side," says Paul Fronstin, Director of the Health Research and Education Program at the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) based in Washington. "What employers have learned is that they have not provided the right incentive" in wellness programs. …

What works differs based on the desired behavior change and the particular employees involved. "The whole challenge of the psychology is, what is the trigger point?" says Chris Mathews, a Vice President at The Segal Co. in Washington. Employers know their populations' trigger points better than wellness providers, he says….

Sources point to these ideas for employers to consider when designing a program:

 Money often motivates people to participate. … While the Wharton research has not yet determined if it is the best motivator for wellness adherence, Pauly says, "Our visceral feeling is that cash is preferred to income-in-kind." Offer employees $250 off their annual health-insurance premiums for participating, and "many people will not even notice that" … Volpp says. "But if they get a check for $250, that will be very noticeable," he says. …

A reward should materialize soon. … A reward has to be paid close to the behavior an employer wants to encourage, Pauly says. … As [Barry Hall, a Boston-based Principal at Buck Consultants, LLC] says, "There is what we call a 'present bias': People put more value on things that are right in front of them today than things that are off in the future."

 Consider making it competitive. Create some type of competitive atmosphere to get people engaged, Robbins suggests. So, a company with multiple sites might have a weight-loss or exercise competition amongst them, he says. …

 Ultimately, motivation has to become internal. Incentives do help drive near-term participation "but, when you take them away, most people rebound to their old behavior," says Kathy Harte, East Region Leader of the Hewitt Associates, LLC's Health & Clinical Consulting practice. … For something to become a long-term lifestyle change, the motivation has to shift from an external factor, such as a material reward, to an intrinsic motivation, [Hall] says. Employers can help by creating a "culture of health" in their organizations, he says.

"What has worked is a multiprong approach," Harte says. That means things like senior management leading a lunchtime walking program, middle management supporting employees who need to take a wellness day to get preventive care, and peer-level wellness "champions" who talk informally with co-workers about their success, she says. It also includes subtle messages such as whether staff meetings feature cookies or fruit as a snack, Hall says. "A lot of social things are going on [in those ­meetings]," he adds. "Is it cool to eat fruit?"

Judy Ward
editors@plansponsor.com

Study: Obesity accounts for 9.1% of medical spending

South Florida Business Journal

The price of that burger and fries is not only impacting Americans’ waistlines, but also is taking a huge toll on health care spending.

In fact, spending on conditions associated with obesity, such as diabetes, has doubled in the last decade, as obesity rates grew 37 percent between 1998 and 2006, according to a study published Monday.

Obesity now accounts for 9.1 percent of all medical spending, up from 6.5 percent in 1998.

The report found that per-capita medical spending for obese people was 42 percent – or $1,429 – higher per year than for someone of normal weight.

Spending on prescription drugs was the largest cost driver. Costs on prescription drugs for an obese Medicare beneficiary was $600 more per year than for prescriptions used by a normal-weight beneficiary, according to the study.

“The medical costs attributable to obesity are almost entirely a result of costs generated from treating the diseases that obesity promotes,” said the study’s lead author, Eric Finkelstein, director of the North Carolina-based RTI’s Public Health Economics Program, in a news release.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is discussing the study’s findings, along with new recommendations designed to prevent and reduce the impact obesity has upon communities at the “Weight of the Nation” conference, a three-day meeting of public health experts, policy leaders, and researchers being held this week in Washington, D.C.