Dayton Business Journal...
Obesity rates expand, medical costs reach $150 billion
by Laura Englehart, Reporter
Monday, May 14, 2012 

Despite attempts by some schools, lawmakers, businesses and insurance providers to curb obesity, waistlines continue to expand. 

That means the health care costs associated with obesity continue to climb, and hits businesses and the economy as the recovery is still trying to pick up steam. 

Though obesity rate climbs have slowed, about 42 percent of Americans will qualify as obese by 2030, according to a new report in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. 

That will be an increase from the roughly 35 percent of adults nationwide currently obese. Ohio currently has a rate of about 29 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention    . In the Dayton region, three counties have populations with 30 percent or more considered obese. 

Note: Click here for a slideshow of fattest counties in Southwest Ohio. 

The most-obese county in the Dayton region is Clark County with nearly 31.8 percent considered obese. Darke and Butler counties aren’t far behind with 31.6 percent and 31.2 percent, respectively. 

The slimmest county in the region is Warren County with 26.1 percent considered obese. 

The jump in numbers will mean more adults at risk for diseases, such as diabetes, heart attack, strokes and arthritis, among many others. 

In 2008, medical costs associated with obesity were estimated at $147 billion nationwide. Medical costs paid by third-party payors for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight, the CDC said. 

The CDC measures body mass index -- a score determined by height and weight -- to determine obesity. A BMI score of 30 or higher is considered obese. 

Dayton-area leaders know the potential impact and have taken some steps to start to remedy the problem, but it requires sustained community cooperation to make a change. 

“There are so many health issues that are related to obesity,” said Dr. Barry Malinowski, medical director for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio. “It almost touches every chronic illness.” 

Workplace environments and technology have encouraged sedentary lifestyles, and readily available, cheap, fast food has stacked the cards against nutritious options, which often cost more, said Dr. James Ebert, director for the Center on Global Health at Wright State University    Boonshoft School of Medicine. 

To turn the tides on increases in obesity requires a multi-pronged approach from educational programs to workplace incentives, said Ebert. 

“It’s do-able if you raise awareness, if you put the policies in place, if you change the way things are done at the school level, if you make employers aware of things they can do in the workplace, if you encourage people to eat healthier foods,” he said. “It needs to be multi-faceted and it needs to be sustained.” 

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, a part of Wellpoint Inc., has piloted a program that provides primary care physicians with monetary incentives to bring specialists under their roof who could consult with patients, if needed. For example, Malinowski said, an obese patient could see a dietitian down the hall. 

“We think that by working with primary care doctors, we’ll have a better chance of engaging people and bringing more resources to them,” he said. 

More doctors could also take advantage of electronic medical records to keep track of chronically ill patients who have not visited their physician on a regular basis or refilled their prescriptions. 

And healthful habits need to start at a young age in households, said Ebert. 

“We have a number of children and teens we follow at Children’s Medical Center (of Dayton) who have complications (from obesity) already and they’re not even grown up. And you don’t outgrow these things, unless you make significant changes,” he said. 

More neighborhoods with walking paths and outdoor activities would help slowly combat the problem. 

“We’re not going to fix it in two or three years,” Ebert said. “It could take a full generation to get back to where we were in the 1960s, but that’s the goal we need to make for ourselves, if we want to be healthier and have lifespans as long as we want them to be so that we’re not succumbing to the consequences of sedentary lifestyles.” 

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