Obese Baby Boomers to Cause Strain on Medicare in Coming Years

An article about the recently released annual state obesity ranking conducted by the Trust for America’s Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that while Mississippi is still leading for the fifth year in a row with 32.5% of resident adults qualifying as obese, several other states, including Alabama, West Virginia, and Tennessee, are quickly catching up.  Worrisomely, 23 states saw an increase in adult obesity this year and none experienced a decrease.  Additionally, the report shows that in every state, the obesity rate is higher among adults ages 55 – 64, the oldest baby boomers, than those over 65.

According to the article, these findings are a cause for concern not only for general health reasons, but also for the strain that it will inevitably put on Medicare.  The healthcare community is already bracing itself for the population disproportions to put public healthcare in financial jeopardy, but this report shows that weight, not just age, will be a huge factor in the rising costs.  Medicare spends anywhere between $1,400 and $6000 more a year on obese seniors than non-obese, and with the boomers reaching retirement, the overall cost is about to multiply.  Furthermore, while it used to be harshly calculated that obese people save the government money by dying at a younger age, new reports show that they typically live just as long, but require more health interventions, such as knee replacements, as well as day-to-day care for chronic conditions such as diabetes.

While there is no quick fix for the impending financial burden brought on by the baby boomers, the Trust for America’s Health is pushing for preventative care in the form of community-based healthcare reforms to encourage everything from building sidewalks to putting healthier lunches in school cafeterias.  The organization hopes that such measures will encourage healthy living and hopefully bring down the future rates of obesity.

To read the full article, go here: http://health.yahoo.com/news/ap/us_med_obesity_rankings.html

To learn about the Trust for America’s Health and their projects, go here: http://healthyamericans.org/