Overweight Employees Increase Health Care Cost & Lower Performance

Spending on health care for the growing number of adults who are seriously overweight accounts for almost one-third of the national cost of treating 15 important diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, stroke and hypertension, the Lewin Group, a health care research and consulting group, said.

"Obese employees have much higher weight-related medical expenses and miss more work than their colleagues who maintain a healthy weight, a study shows. It places the annual cost at an additional $460 to $2,500 per obese person - those who are 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight."

• The price of obesity at a company with 1000 people on staff is about $285,000 a year in medical costs and absenteeism. Roughly 30% of that cost comes from increased absences among heavyset employees, according to the study in the September/October issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.
• Normal-weight men miss an average of three work days a year, compared with five days for men who are 60 or more pounds over a healthy weight.
• Normal-weight women miss about 3.4 days a year vs. 5.2 days for women who are obese, that is 30 to 60 pounds overweight, and 8.2 days for extremely obese, 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight.
• The average medical expenditure for a normal-weight man is $1,351 a year. Men who are 30 to 60 pounds overweight cost $462 more based on added medical costs and absenteeism. Extremely obese men cost $2,027 a year more.
• Average medical expenditures for normal-weight women are $1,956. Women who are 30 to 60 pounds overweight cost $1,372 more when medical costs and missed work are included. Women who weigh 60 to 100 pounds too much cost $2,485 more.

The higher expenses are absorbed by all employees who end up paying higher health-care premiums; by businesses if they have to hire replacement workers or pick up a larger share of insurance costs; and by obese employees if they aren't paid for their time off.

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