uExpress, July, 2009 by Maggie Gallagher
How do we trim health care costs? Weighing in on the national debate, a new study in the journal Health Affairs urges: Fight fat by fighting fat.
An obese person spends $1,400 more in medical expense per year than normal-weight people, and obesity-related diseases cost this nation anywhere from $86 billion to $147 billion per year. “Real (health care) savings are more likely to be achieved through reforms that reduce the prevalence of obesity and related risk factors,” the study’s scholars conclude.
Addressing “poor diet and inactivity,” they say, will require “policy and environmental changes that extend far beyond what can be achieved through changes in health care financing and delivery.”
Federally funded fat-fighters! Congressional greengrocers in the…