Fat U.S. Workers Thinning Employer Wallets

Like tens of millions of other Americans, I’ve got a problem – I’m too short for my weight.   According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) “body mass index” (BMI), I am 4 inches too short for my 185 pounds.  

Of course, I have a good excuse.  After climbing stairs at the health club several hours every week plus putting my abs and other parts of my body through crunches, stretches and other tortuous activities, I figure the excess weight I’m carrying away must be heavy muscle mass. It certainly can’t be a result of overeating.

But however I rationalize it, I sadly share a similar fate with two-thirds of U.S. adults – obese or overweight.  These alarming statistics were just released by the Trust for America’s Health in its fourth annual report titled, “F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America.”

In 32 states, 60 percent of the population is either overweight or obese. In West Virginia that number climbs to nearly two-thirds of adults.  In Mississippi almost one in three adults are obese.  What would it take for our friends in Ole Miss to get fit?  For anyone 5 foot, 9 inches tall, they would have to lose almost 40 pounds or grow to 6 foot, 5 inches tall!  And that is if they were just marginally obese.  Many of these people need to lose 100 or more pounds or become 8 foot giants to achieve normal weight.

Nationwide, more than 25 percent of adults in 19 states are obese. If you go back to 1991, only 4 states had obesity rates about 15 percent. None exceeded 20 percent.

Beyond all the health risks associated with obesity, this excess poundage creating fat medical bills for employers and putting bottom lines on a crash-diet.

Four studies linking obesity to increased employer costs for health care and worker compensation were released recently:

1. Moderate and severe obesity were linked to annual health care cost increases of 21% and 75%, respectively.  (Medstat Group, Inc.)
2. Duke University Medical Group linked obesity to higher medical costs and 13 times the number of lost work days than non-obese workers. Obese employees had medical costs seven times higher.
3. In a study at John Hopkins, 85% of the injured workers were classified as obese or overweight.
4. Obese employees run up medical care and pharmacy costs 75% more than a worker of normal weight (Thomson Healthcare).

Read more information about obesity and its effect on employee health and productivity in The Perfect Labor Storm 2.0, available at www.perfectlaborstorm.com.

Comments

[Michael Moore]

Good News! You may be overwieght by BMI standards but your not overfat. This is the danger of too much reliance on BMI as a health predicter. Martica Heaner points out the limitations of BMI in her posts BMI Blues and Is Body Mass Index a Bad Measure?:

The BMI works well for research purposes, but doesnt necessarily translate precisely to the individual. Unfortunately, it tends to convey that people that exercise regularly, for example, are overweight, when they are not actually overfat. A fit person tends to have more muscle, so their body weight is a reflection of body fat as well as muscle and other lean tissue.
Since the problem with being overfat is that health risks are increased, a BMI in the overweight range is probably not a negative indicator for a fit person. Regular exercise, low body fat and increased muscle mass are all factors that tend to outweigh any health risks suggested by a higher BMI.