Severe obesity in adults cost state medicaid programs nearly $8 billion in 2013

Health Affairs

Volumn 34, Issue 11, 2015, Pages 1923-1931

  Wang, Y Claire ^a   Pamplin, John ^a   Long, Michael W ^b   Ward, Zachary J ^c   Gortmaker, Steven L ^c   Andreyeva, Tatiana ^d  

^a Department of Medicine   (United States)

^b GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH   (United States)

^d UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ADULT; AGED; ARTICLE; BARIATRIC SURGERY; BODY MASS; CONSULTATION; DISEASE SEVERITY; FEMALE; HEALTH CARE COST; HEALTH CARE PLANNING; HEALTH PROGRAM; HUMAN; MAJOR CLINICAL STUDY; MALE; MEDICAID; MEDICARE; MIDDLE AGED; OBESITY; UNITED STATES; WEIGHT REDUCTION; ADOLESCENT; COST OF ILLNESS; ECONOMICS; FACTUAL DATABASE; GOVERNMENT; OBESITY, MORBID; YOUNG ADULT;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGED; COST OF ILLNESS; DATABASES, FACTUAL; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; MEDICAID; MIDDLE AGED; OBESITY, MORBID; STATE GOVERNMENT; UNITED STATES; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84949201432     PISSN: 02782715     EISSN: 15445208     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0633     Document Type: Article

References (46)

1. National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2013: with special feature on prescription drugs [Internet]. Hyattsville (MD): National Center for Health Statistics; 2014 [cited 2015 Sep 1]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ data/hus/hus13.pdf
2. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of obesity and trends in body mass index among US children and adolescents, 1999-2010. JAMA. 2012;307(5):483-90.
3. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. JAMA 2014;311(8): 806-14.
4. Guh D, Zhang W, Bansback N, Amarsi Z, Birmingham CL, Anis AH. The incidence of co-morbidities related to obesity and overweight: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health. 2009;9:88.
5. Puhl RM, Brownell KD. Psychosocial origins of obesity stigma: toward changing a powerful and pervasive bias. Obes Rev. 2003;4(4):213-27.
6. Flegal KM, Kit BK, Orpana H, Graubard BI. Association of all-cause mortality with overweight and obesity using standard body mass index categories: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA. 2013;309(1): 71-82.
7. Arterburn DE, Maciejewski ML, Tsevat J. Impact of morbid obesity on medical expenditures in adults. Int J Obes (Lond). 2005;29(3):334-9.
8. Skinner AC, Skelton JA. Prevalence and trends in obesity and severe obesity among children in the united states, 1999-2012. JAMA Pediatr. 2014;168(6):561-6.
9. Sturm R, Hattori A. Morbid obesity rates continue to rise rapidly in the US. Int J Obes (Lond). 2013;37(6): 889-91.
10. Finkelstein EA, Khavjou OA, Thompson H, Trogdon JG, Pan L, Sherry B, et al. Obesity and severe obesity forecasts through 2030. Am J Prev Med. 2012;42(6):563-70.
11. Thorpe KE, Florence CS, Howard DH, Joski P. The impact of obesity on rising medical spending. Health Aff (Millwood). 2004;25(4):w480-6. DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.w4.480.
12. Finkelstein EA, Trogdon JG, Cohen JW, Dietz W. Annual medical spending attributable to obesity: payer- and service-specific estimates. Health Aff (Millwood). 2009;28(5): w822-31. DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff .28.5.w822.
13. Trogdon JG, Finkelstein EA, Feagan CW, Cohen JW. State- and payerspecific estimates of annual medical expenditures attributable to obesity. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2012;20(1): 214-20.
14. American College of Cardiology/ American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines, Obesity Expert Panel, 2013. Executive summary: guidelines (2013) for the management of overweight and obesity in adults: a report of the American College of Cardiology/ American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines and the Obesity Society published by the Obesity Society and American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines. Based on a systematic review from the The Obesity Expert Panel, 2013. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2014;22(Suppl 2):S5-39.
15. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data, trends, and maps: obesity prevalence maps [Internet]. Atlanta (GA): CDC; [last updated 2015 Jun 16; cited 2015 Sep 1]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/ obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html
16. Yun S, Zhu BP, Black W, Brownson RC. A comparison of national estimates of obesity prevalence from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Int J Obes (Lond). 2006;30(1):164-70.
17. Connor Gorber S, Tremblay M, Moher D, Gorber B. A comparison of direct vs. self-report measures for assessing height, weight, and body mass index: a systematic review. Obes Rev. 2007;8(4):307-26.
18. Ward Z, Long MW, Resch S, Gortmaker SL, Cradock AL, Hsiao A. Redrawing the US obesity landscape: bias-corrected estimates of statespecific adult obesity. Paper presented at: 142nd American Public Health Association Annual Meeting and Exposition; 2014 Nov 15-19; New Orleans, LA.
19. To access the Appendix, click on the Appendix link in the box to the right of the article online.
20. Trasande L, Liu Y, Fryer G,Weitzman M. Effects of childhood obesity on hospital care and costs, 1999-2005. Health Aff (Millwood). 2009;28(4): w751-60. DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff .28.4.w751.
21. Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Hospital adjusted expenses per inpatient day, 2013 [Internet]. Menlo Park (CA): KFF; [cited 2015 Sep 1]. Available from: http://kff.org/ other/state-indicator/expenses-perinpatient- day/
22. Sing M, Banthin JS, Selden TM, Cowan CA, Keehan SP. Reconciling medical expenditure estimates from the MEPS and NHEA, 2002. Health Care Financ Rev. 2006;28(1):25-40.
23. Bell JF, Zimmerman FJ, Arterburn DE, Maciejewski ML. Health-care expenditures of overweight and obese males and females in the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey by age cohort. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2011;19(1):228-32.
24. Kenney GM, Huntress M, Buettgens M, Lynch V, Resnick D (Urban Institute, Washington, DC). State and local coverage changes under full implementation of the Affordable Care Act [Internet]. Washington (DC): Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured; 2013 Jul 31 [cited 2015 Sep 1]. Available from: http://kff.org/health-reform/ report/state-and-local-coveragechanges- under-full-implementationof- the-affordable-care-act/
25. Wright DR, Prosser LA. The impact of overweight and obesity on pediatric medical expenditures. Appl Health Econ Health Policy. 2014; 12(2):139-50.
26. Janicke DM, Harman JS, Jamoom EW, Simon SL, Zhang J, Dumont- Driscoll M. The relationship among child weight status, psychosocial functioning, and pediatric health care expenditures in a Medicaid population. J Pediatr Psychol. 2010;35(8):883-91.
27. Trasande L, Chatterjee S. The impact of obesity on health service utilization and costs in childhood. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2009;17(9):1749-54.
28. Au N. The health care cost implications of overweight and obesity during childhood. Health Serv Res. 2012;47(2):655-76.
29. Pratt JSA, Lenders CM, Dionne EA, Hoppin AG, Hsu GLK, Inge TH, et al. Best practice updates for pediatric/ adolescent weight loss surgery. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2009;17(5): 901-10.
30. Andreyeva T, Luedicke J, Wang YC. State-level estimates of obesity-attributable costs of absenteeism. J Occup Environ Med. 2014;56(11): 1120-7.
31. Finkelstein EA, DiBonaventura Md, Burgess SM, Hale BC. The costs of obesity in the workplace. J Occup Environ Med. 2010;52(10):971-6.
32. Cawley J, Rizzo JA, Haas K. Occupation- specific absenteeism costs associated with obesity and morbid obesity. J Occup Environ Med. 2007;49(12):1317-24.
33. Trogdon J, Finkelstein EA, Reyes M, Dietz WH. A return-on-investment simulation model of workplace obesity interventions. J Occup Environ Med. 2009;51(7):751-8.
34. Anderson LM, Quinn TA, Glanz K, Ramirez G, Kahwati LC, Johnson DB, et al. The effectiveness of worksite nutrition and physical activity interventions for controlling employee overweight and obesity: a systematic review. Am J Prev Med. 2009;37(4):340-57.
35. Unlike Eric Finkelstein and coauthors (Notes 12 and 13), we did not adjust for the difference between MEPS and National Health Expenditure Accounts data. The adjustment led to an increase in their estimated obesity-attributable expenditures from $86 billion to $147 billion.
36. Cawley J, Meyerhoefer C. The medical care costs of obesity: an instrumental variables approach. J Health Econ. 2012;31(1):219-30.
37. Andreyeva T, Sturm R, Ringel JS. Moderate and severe obesity have large differences in health care costs. Obes Res. 2004;12(12):1936-43.
38. Weiner JP, Goodwin SM, Chang HY, Bolen SD, Richards TM, Johns RA, et al. Impact of bariatric surgery on health care costs of obese persons: a 6-year follow-up of surgical and comparison cohorts using health plan data. JAMA Surg. 2013;148(6): 555-61.
39. Van Baal PH, Polder JJ, de Wit GA, Hoogenveen RT, Feenstra TL, Boshuizen HC, et al. Lifetime medical costs of obesity: prevention no cure for increasing health expenditure. PLoS Med. 2008;5(2):e29.
40. Lee JS, Sheer JL, Lopez N, Rosenbaum S. Coverage of obesity treatment: a state-by-state analysis of Medicaid and state insurance laws. Public Health Rep. 2010;125(4): 596-604.
41. Gallagher C. OCC health policy memo: summary of state benchmark plan coverage of obesity treatment services [Internet]. Silver Spring (MD): Obesity Care Continuum; 2012 Dec 4 [cited 2015 Sep 1]. Available from: http://www .obesityaction.org/wp-content/ uploads/1212-OCC-Summary-of- Obesity-Treatment-State- Benchmark-Plan-Coverage.pdf
42. Stevens J, Oakkar EE, Cui Z, Cai J, Truesdale KP. US adults recommended for weight reduction by 1998 and 2013 obesity guidelines, NHANES 2007-2012. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2015;23(3):527-31.
43. Marincic P, Gray C. CMS coverage for obesity management. JAAPA. 2014;27(1):47-50.
44. Dietz WH, Baur LA, Hall K, Puhl RM, Taveras EM, Uauy R. Management of obesity: improvement of healthcare training and systems for prevention and care. Lancet. 2015; 385(9986):2521-33.
45. Habermann EB, Durham SB, Dorman R, Jarosek S, Virnig BA (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN). Trends in bariatric surgery in Medicare beneficiaries [Internet]. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 2012 Nov [cited 2015 Sep 2]. (AHRQ Publication No. 12-EHC104-EF). Available from: http://effective healthcare.ahrq.gov/ehc/products/ 493/1340/Data-Points-17_20121130 .pdf
46. Woolford SJ, Clark SJ, Butchart A, Geiger JD, Davis MM, Fagerlin A. To pay or not to pay: public perception regarding insurance coverage of obesity treatment. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013;21(12):E709-14.