The effects of Obesity on US health care spending - Dissertation Example

19 Mortality ………………..p. 20 Most in Need ………………..p. 21 Where it Comes From ………………..p. 23 Public Concerns ………………..p. 25 Methodology ………………..p. 26 Data Analysis ………………..p. 27 Conclusions and Recommendations ………………..p. 31 References ………………..p. 36 The Problem of Obesity Introduction Physical inactivity and the subsequent individual weight gain resulting from obesity represents a pervasive risk factor for industrialized society.

The costs are significant in terms of diminished activity, as well as a burden to the healthcare system. Over the course of decades, the problem of excess weight and its consequences have ballooned into a global epidemic. The convenience of modern life and the prospect in the industrialized world of earning a living (or being cared for) without regular physical labor has prompted a silent epidemic that would've astounded impoverished ancestors from our more spartan past. In an earlier time, even when food supplies were more reliable- obesity was thought to be a matter of personal choice, an issue of no more relevance than an individual's personal willpower.

But a wide range of findings indicate that in an interconnected, industrialized society obesity has the potential to increase costs and burdens in all walks of life. Obese people require more healthcare, the expense in insuring them compounds the cost. Researchers are coming to the understanding that in a civil society there must be some degree of personal responsibility which obesity touches upon. It is however, not entirely the individual's fault. The physical environment and availability of food and convenience requires a restructuring of the individual life to.

This dissertation “The effects of Obesity on US health care spending” indicates that obese individuals are more likely to require medical treatment, thereby creating a burden on the healthcare establishment. Physical inactivity and the subsequent individual weight gain resulting from obesity represents a pervasive risk factor for industrialized society. The costs are significant in terms of diminished activity, as well as a burden to the healthcare system. Over the course of decades, the problem of excess weight and its consequences have ballooned into a global epidemic.

The convenience of modern life and the prospect in the industrialized world of earning a living without regular physical labor has prompted a silent epidemic that would've astounded impoverished ancestors from our more spartan past. In an earlier time, even when food supplies were more reliable, obesity was thought to be a matter of personal choice than an individual's personal willpower. But a wide range of findings indicate that in an interconnected, industrialized society obesity has the potential to increase costs and burdens in all walks of life.

Obese people require more healthcare, the expense in insuring them compounds the cost. Researchers are coming to the understanding that in a civil society there must be some degree of personal responsibility which obesity touches upon. It is however, not entirely the individual's fault. Obesity is a public-health challenge affecting people of all ages, ethnic and racial backgrounds.