Obesity imposes a burden of over $166 billion on Medicare and Medicaid in the United States

According to recent estimates, more than one third of Americans are now classified as obese, with correspondingly higher risks of developing a chronic illness. The greater prevalence of these illnesses puts a great deal of pressure on healthcare services, and imposes costs on both public and private health insurance systems. In new research, Joanna MacEwan, Julian Alston, and Abigail Okrent estimate that in 2009 over $166 billion in U.S. public medical expenditure could be attributed to obesity. They also find that an increase of one unit of BMI for every adult in the United States would increase public medical expenditure by $4.35 per pound, or approximately $6 billion annually.