Obesity & Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Obesity adds $190 billion in health costs.
Nearly 70% of Obese patients and over 90$ of Morbidly Obese patients have OSA.
How extensive is the Epidemic?

More than 1/3 of US adults are obese (37.5%). Obesity is linked to over 60 chronic diseases. According to the CDC, obesity contributes to 2/3 of ALL heart disease. Over 75% of all hypertension cases are directly related to obesity. The additional medical spending due to obesity is double previous estimates and exceeds even those of smoking, a new study shows. As economists put a price tag on sky-high body mass indexes (BMIs), policymakers as well as the private sector are mobilizing to find solutions to the obesity epidemic. The U.S. health care reform law of 2010 allows employers to charge obese workers 30 percent to 50 percent more for health insurance if they decline to participate in a qualified wellness program. Obesity-related absenteeism costs employers as much as $6.4 billion a year. The percentage of Americans who are obese (with a BMI of 30 or higher) has tripled since 1960. The startling economic costs of obesity, often borne by the non-obese, could become the epidemic's second-hand smoke.

If trends continue, by 2030 obesity will account for 16 - 18% of US healthcare expenditures ($861B to $957B). They very obese lose one month of productive work per year, costing employers an average of $3,792 per very obese male worker and $3,037 per female. Total annual cost of presenteeism due to obesity: $30 billion! Obese men rack up an additional $1,152 a year in medical spending, especially for hospitalizations and prescription drugs. Obese women account for an extra $3,613 a year. Nationally, that comes to $190 billion a year in additional medical spending as a result of obesity, calculated Cawley, or 20.6 percent of U.S. health care expenditures. Smoking added about 20 percent a year to medical costs." said Mayo's James Naessens. "Obesity was similar, but morbid obesity increased those costs by 50 percent a year. For years researchers suspected that the higher medical costs of obesity might be offset by the possibility that the obese would die young, and thus never rack up spending for nursing homes, Alzheimer's care, and other pricey items.

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