Fat People Cheaper to Treat, Study Says

Found on Wired on Monday, 04 February 2008
Browse Science

Preventing obesity and smoking can save lives, but it doesn't save money, researchers reported Monday.

"It was a small surprise," said Pieter van Baal, an economist at the Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, who led the study. "But it also makes sense. If you live longer, then you cost the health system more."

The researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people racked up the most expensive health costs. But because both the smokers and the obese people died sooner than the healthy group, it cost less to treat them in the long run.

"Lung cancer is a cheap disease to treat because people don't survive very long," van Baal said. "But if they are old enough to get Alzheimer's one day, they may survive longer and cost more."

Not really a surprise, since that's been stated before (inofficially) by health insurances. But now that an official study is out, I already can see my rates going up; on the other hand, I save money on fat fast food.