7 ms·
Why? Playing the devil's advocate here, 42% of the US population is obese right now. Why is it going to be impossible if that hits 60%, or 80%? I ask this as s
by strken 5y ago
Why? Playing the devil's advocate here, 42% of the US population is obese right now. Why is it going to be impossible if that hits 60%, or 80%?
I ask this as someone with a BMI of 23 who puts a reasonable amount of effort into not becoming obese or overweight again. The personal benefits of not dying from cardiac arrest at 55 are very obvious, but I'm not clear on why healthcare systems won't be able to cope.
- nradov 5y agoHealthcare is already about 20% of the US economy. Where do you think the additional money is going to come from to care for a major increase in diabetics? The rest of the economy doesn't produce enough of a surplus to sustain that.
- strken 5y agoA huge amount of spending goes towards the healthcare needs of the elderly, and obese people die early. Is there data that suggests increasing obesity increases overall healthcare costs, instead of decreasing them? I can understand the argument that diabetes resources, specifically, will be strained. If overall costs don't rise, that's not a huge problem.
- nradov 5y agoObese patients on average cost about $2500 per year more than normal weight patients. Even though they die earlier they still increase overall healthcare costs. https://www.jmcp.org/doi/10.18553/jmcp.2021.20410 https://www.jmcp.org/doi/10.18553/jmcp.2021.20410