My point was that these people tend to live a full decade less, and they're missing out the decade when health care cost rise to $11k/yr (65+, also when Medicai

My point was that these people tend to live a full decade less, and they're missing out the decade when health care cost rise to $11k/yr (65+, also when Medicaid kicks in as far as I understand). Only looking at the obesity-related health-care cost without looking at the earlier-death-related savings doesn't get you a clear picture. All obese people becoming healthier might actually cost the health-care system more. I understand that's not a comfortable way to think about it for some people, but I do believe it's useful to consider. Here's a study on lifetime costs for smokers vs nonsmokers: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejm199710093371506 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejm199710093371506 In Germany, healthcare spending for women is about 20% larger per person which is primarily explained by the 5 years additional life expectancy. You'll see that it's not obvious that an obese person dying 10 years earlier will necessarily have the same life time cost because their life is much shorter, and cost rises rapidly when you're past retirement age.