The increase in the prevalence of obesity in the U.S. has given way to various studies investigating the cost of obesity and related diseases on the general population of individuals, the labor market, and both private and public healthcare costs. Many of these studies focus on using BMI as the index of measurement. Generally speaking a healthy or desirable BMI has a range from 18.9-24.9, an overweight BMI is from 25.0-29.9, and a BMI above 30.0 is considered obese. It has been shown that there is an increased risk for morbidity and mortality with many acute and chronic co-morbid medical conditions such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes mellitus, respiratory disease, several types of cancer, and arthritis being some of the most common (Burton et. al, 2005; Quesenberry et. al, 1998). These diseases affect an individual who suffers from them on a personal level, but they also have consequences on the labor market and employers who see decreased productivity, as well as financial implications with the cost of health care. The monetary costs of obesity and related disease were estimated to be in between $92.6-$117 billion. These amounts correspond to around 5.7 to 9.1 percent of the total costs of U.S. health care expenditures (Wyatt et. al, 2006). Other studies have indicated that the U.S. has higher costs attributable to excess weight over similarly developed countries. Studies in the Netherlands and France estimated the same costs to be 4% and 2% in these countries respectively (Heithoff et. al, 1997).
The effect of obesity on individuals varies between patients with and without health insurance from a financial standpoint. For people without employer sponsored or government health insuran ...