Obesity and Medical Health Insurance CostsMarch 2008
Lawmakers this week are expected to approve legislation for
Minnesota health insurance that is projected to reduce health care spending in the state by 20% by 2015 and extend coverage to an additional 47,000 residents. Aimed at curtailing obesity and smoking, the plan would seek to lower medical health insurance costs by teaching people how to lead a healthier lifestyle.
Certainly this is not a new idea - Governor Schwarzenegger in California suggested lower medical health insurance costs for healthier individuals last year. The idea is that smoking and obesity cost us, and they cost a lot. The CDC estimates that obesity-related health care costs are around $100 billion a year now, and smoking costs us another $73 billion or more. This new Minnesota health insurance plan hopes to minimize those costs for the state over the next 7 years.
How? Of the estimated cost of $49 million in 2009, about $20 million would come from insurers and health care providers to fund programs that aim to reduce obesity and smoking rates. The remaining $29 million would come from the state's Health Care Access Fund. Long-term savings could be as high as $12 billion from reducing obesity, smoking rates and the number of uninsured.
Facts on:
Minnesota Health Insurance
Did you know...
More than 42.3 million older Americans rely on Medicare?
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And Minnesota health insurance isn't the only one that might be seeing significant changes soon. According to New York City's health department, between 2002 and 2004, New York City residents gained a total of more than 10 million pounds, about 173,500 residents became obese, and more than 73,000 were diagnosed with diabetes. As the first city to move towards a ban of trans-fats, will it be long before New York health insurance goes to war against obesity?
There are those who argue that such a move will amount to discrimination, especially if the overweight or obese are denied the
medical health insurance that they need. This would certainly be a bad idea, since it's time spent with nurses and doctors that can help people to lead a healthier lifestyle. But at an estimated cost of $173 billion a year, it's easy to see why stopping the rise in obesity and smoking looks like a smart way to save money and lives.
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