Obesity in Americans in Relation to Increasing Healthcare Costs - Research Paper Example

Obesity in Americans in Relation to Increasing Healthcare Costs Thesis: Obesity in America today has a direct coloration to the rise in healthcare costs today. Introduction “An obese person will have an average of $8,315 in medical bills a year in 2018 compared with $5,855 for an adult at a healthy weight. That’s a difference of $2,460” (Hellmich, 2009). As Americans today, embrace a more sedentary lifestyle, obesity related illnesses and ailments become more prevalent and this in turn, causes healthcare costs to increase dramatically. Obesity in America has a direct coloration to the rise in healthcare costs today. Obesity related illnesses Diabetes, heart disease, and sleep apnea, are all obesity related illnesses. Diabetes “Type 2 diabetes develops when either the body does not produce enough insulin in the blood or cells ignore the insulin produced” (Obesity-Related Diseases, n.d., para.2). Obesity causes insulin’s effectiveness in controlling the body’s blood sugar to decrease. Blood sugar is overproduced to keep up with the increased intake and the body, not being able to keep up with that, causes the blood sugar levels to become high (Obesity-Related Diseases, para.2). The resistance factor of insulin in human body is exponentially increased with the presence of extra muscles. The exact link between these two factors, obesity and diabetes was clearly explained in a research conducted in 2009 by the Salk Institute researchers (Sciencedaily, 2009). The researchers found out a new condition in people who are obese called as the endoplasmic reticulum (Sciencedaily, 2009).This condition could appear at a higher rate in people who have very high fat percentage and because of this condition, the segregation of glucose in liver increases dramatically and hence increasing their potential to become a patient of diabetes. The presence of excessive artificial additives in many of the cheaply available foods that are mostly consumed by people who are involved in sedentary work can effectively increase the fat content of those people. This makes them obese and hence luring them to have diabetes (Sciencedaily, 2009). Cancer Several studies conducted in the past have shown that overweight could increase the percentage of people getting affected with cancer. In particular, the most common type of cancer that is exhibited in obese people is the liver cancer. Researchers from University of California, San Diego has found out through their research that one major cause for the introduction of cancer in obese people is due to a chronic inflammation (NewsWise, 2010). In generic terms, it could be described as a state where the cells of human body interact between each other in an unruly and disordered manner causing a lot of discrepancies to occur in their working. Any kind of mismanagement of communication between the cells and in their movement leads to the advent of cancer. Such an improper metabolism could occur in a higher percentage in obese people and hence the relation between obese people and cancer has come to the fore. Cancer is not a direct result of this state but is the culmination of series of secondary problems caused by this chronic inflammation (NewsWise, 2010). Heart disease Obesity often causes heart diseases due to the fact the heart is stressed when pumping blood. The relation between obesity and heart diseases where always analyzed but was believed that it is not a direct resultant of obesity. Many other sub causes were found to be the reasons for producing heart diseases. Those sub causes include presence of hypertension when the heart rate increases extremely, decrease in the levels of cholesterol in HDL or even the above mentioned factor, diabetes (Lew & Garfinkel, 1979). It is a proven fact that these causes can occur in obese patients than a regular diet person and through this it was attributed to obesity that heart disease could also occur in those persons. But the recent studies about body and mass index and fat distribution in obese persons have indicated that heart failures could have a direct influence from obesity. One primary cause of heart diseases is high levels of blood pressures. Since with increase in muscle content, there is higher level of blood pressure which in turn could make the heart pump a lot faster resulting in weakening of the heart muscles and causing several cardio problems which may sometimes prove fatal (Garrison & Castelli, 1985). Sleep apnea Sleep apnea is another obesity related illness. In generic terms, “Apnea is defined as a cessation of oronasal airflow of at least 10 seconds in duration.” (Cauwenberge, et. al, 1998, p.87) Sleep apnea causes the airway to become blocked due to excess tissue therefore causing the effected person to stop breathing while sleeping (Sleep Apnea para.6). It is considered to be one of the growing epidemic problems in America. The enlargement of certain parts of the respiratory system is found as some causes for the high occurrence of this disease in obese people. The increase in the muscle content surrounding the organs of the respiratory system such as the neck and chest cause a suppression of the pathway for air within the system. As a result of the suppression, the pressure of air gets increased causing muscles critical for sleep to get pressurized. Obese people with neck sizes greater than 16 inches are found to have this kind of diseases. The major problems of this disease is that it causes the people to sleep when they are made to sit sedate physically even for a little while, even when their mental functions keep up with the requirements. For example, during driving, because of lack of large physical movements, there is every possibility for them to fall asleep while driving, the consequences of which may prove catastrophic. Reasons for increased cost Not only do these obesity related illness put a strain on obese American’s bodies, this epidemic also effects the wallets of thousands of Americans. Some of the major increases in healthcare expenditure due to obesity are detailed below. The large number of diseases that could occur for overweight people is certainly a huge factor in deciding the costs for treating these people. Obesity related illnesses cause patients to have more equipment and medications. “Prescription drugs for obesity- related illness account for much of the rise in spending” (Associated Press, 2011) states that Diabetes causes affected Americans to spend money on insulin, insulin pumps, blood sugar strips and glucose monitors, and glucose pills for when blood sugar becomes low. Americans with heart related diseases due to obesity must depend on medication to lower cholesterol, and require hypertensive medication due to an increase in blood pressure. Obese patients with sleep apnea must endure the costs of a sleep study and learn to sleep with a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine to prevent obstruction during sleep. “When you get up to the higher-end beds and mechanical lifting devices, it can be three to five times more expensive” (Templeton, 2010). Along with higher equipment costs comes longer patient stays and hidden costs such as training classes for proper body mechanics when training staff to deal with obese patients (Rhea, 2010). Apart from the costs of equipment, separate space for allocation of these kinds of equipment need to be made. Additional space would always cost more. Longer duration of stay would involve longer intake of medications. Even in administering medications the dosage of those medications need to be totally different for these patients and as a result, the administering persons too need to be made aware of these details during training sessions. All these could heavily increase the health care costs. Also medication provided for obese patients would require for additional medications that could nullify any kinds of side effects in the body. There is high percentage of side effects to occur because of the cellular metabolism and the enlargement of muscles. Larger extremities call for more supplies Although there are many costs that are related to obesity related illnesses, most of them are endured due to the fact that the patient is larger. Many do not think of the accommodations that need to be made when dealing with obese patients. When obese patients are hospitalized the hospital must make sure that they have plenty of staff to move the patient if the patient is not ambulatory. An increase in staff, relates to an increase in hospital stay costs. Not only do these patients have an increase of staff, but they also require larger ambulances for transport to the hospital. Larger ambulances cannot be used for all kinds of patients and they would be difficult to move through the cities in peak hours. Hence, the hospital must have separate kind of facilities for normal patients and obese patients. This would further increase the costs. The frequency of their visits to hospitals for treatment is also extremely high in number when compared with normal patients. As a result, the number of persons attending to obese patients should be equal in number to those attending normal patients. This increases the health care costs as the hospital has to pay for more number of employees. The difference in costs for treatment of obese women and men is extremely high when compared to the difference of those costs between normal men and women. Obese patients must also have the accommodations of air mattresses, beds that can hold over 300 or more pounds, toilets that are not attached to the wall so the toilets don’t break off the wall. With bigger beds comes bigger sheets and with bigger patients comes bigger gowns. When a patient is required to have surgery the surgical staff must too have an operating table that will hold the obese patient. “In addition to beds, gurneys and wheelchairs, blood pressure cuffs, specially made surgical instruments and other supplies must be used in caring for a burgeoning population of obese patients” (Rhea,2010). When discussing other supplies, obese patients use more dressings such as 4x4’s, kerlix and ace wraps. The costs of these supplies may seem trivial at first but if an obese diabetic patient calls for multiple dressing changes these costs add up. Preventive Strategies The number of people coming into the obese category has always been on the rise in US. This leads to 2 major consequences. Increase in the health problems and secondly, increase in healthcare expenditure. The latter is proving to be vital for the sustenance of economy in US as the health care industry has already received a lot of flake for its costly benefits and frugal coverage and, the economy is rising from one of its biggest setbacks since the great depression of 1939. Having mentioned all the factors that prove the vitality of health care costs, it is important for the people and the working nurses to take some responsibility on their shoulders to minimize the health care expenditures. There are three basic categories which could provide a lot of scope for implementing several cost minimizing plans. They are described below. Education In dealing with obesity, it is not only important to educate the healthcare staff but it is also important to educate the patient on ways to reduce obesity. The CDC (center for disease control) has initiated some helpful guidelines when educating these obese patients. The CDC encourages, “availability of affordable healthy food and beverages, physical activity, breast-feeding, healthy food and beverage choices” (Obesity Imposes High Costs on Health Care, 2009). Education on obesity related illnesses is also a key factor in aiding in fighting the obesity battle. Education must be initiated while a person is young to gain optimal affects. If a young person is taught early the risks of being obese and the dangers of falling victim to the fruits of obesity the children will be less likely to lead an obese lifestyle. Exercise Physical activity is the best and the fundamental option for every person to be free of any health problems and of course, to reduce already gained weight. Physical activity done in the form of exercises helps a person to maintain his fitness, increase the blood flow in the body and provide a regulated metabolism of the cells in the body – factors that were outlined above as the causes for several obesity related illnesses. While reducing weight, any physical exercise that is done without intake of food allows a person to burn his fat molecules and thereby reducing the weight of the body. Caution must be taken that the intake of food must be prevented before doing any such exercises because, then the body would act on the glucose energy within the body and thus providing no effect to the body. Regular form of exercise is the best preventive mechanism of health related diseases. Instead of spending more on the instruments and medication, the health care costs could be directed towards starting regular exercise programme through several available mediums like TV , Internet, or in direct communication and make the children and the grownups aware of the troubles of being obese and motivate them to do regular exercises. Improved diet Another basic factor that needs to be addressed is the food intake of obese persons. Irrespective of how much ever exercise is done, if the obese patients do not control their food intake then there is no use in doing such exercises. Any food product that contains artificially added additives and that is high on saturated fats should be totally avoided. The determination shown towards controlling on the intake of food and maintaining proper diet clearly shows its effect in reducing the weight. There are several privately organized programs that could help in regulating the diet for obese people. But, there is always a lack of motivation among the obese people to actually reduce their weights considering the great amount of depression they could get into because of their health related problems. More than improving the diet, it is the motivational factor that needs to be injected into the obese people to make them believe that they can reduce their weights and live a very healthy life. So, similar to exercise programs of the government, diet control programs could be started on similar mediums and people could be educated about the causes and effects of obesity and make them realize that how their economy could improve by just cutting down the health care cost spent for the obese people. Education, diet and exercise can help obese patients to gain the knowledge that they need to take a step in the right direction when dealing with obesity issues. Conclusion Obesity not only affects one’s self but it also affects those around the obese people. The number of illnesses that come along with obesity, the number of treatments and modifications that need to be made to accommodate and treat such people clearly indicate that there is an increase of healthcare costs not only for the obese but even for the normal or regular American citizens. The obesity epidemic is quickly spreading throughout United States. If Americans are educated on the harms of obesity and how this disease negatively effects health costs, the country is taking the step in the right direction to increase a patient’s mortality and decrease the patient’s and hospital’s expenses. References Associated Press. (2009). Nearly 10 percent of health spending for obesity. MSNBC. Retrieved April 9, 2011 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32170526/ns/health-health_care/. Cauwenberge, P. V., Wang, D. Y., Ingels, K., & Bachert, C. (1998). The Nose: Kugler Publications. Garrison RJ, Castelli WP. (1985).Weight and thirty-year mortality of men in the Framingham Study. Ann Intern Med.103:1006-1009. Hellmich, N. (2009). Rising obesity will cost U.S. health care $344 billion a year. USA TODAY. Lew EA, Garfinkel L. (1979). Variations in mortality by weight among 750,000 men and women. J Chronic Dis. 32:563-576. NewsWise. (2010). Link Between Obesity and Enhanced Cancer Risk Elucidated. 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