Obesity Disabilities Cost Companies $12B Each Year

Obesity-related disabilities have increased right along with the body weight of Americans over the past ten years, according to Unum-Provident, the nation's largest disability insurance provider.

Unum announced that obesity accounts for nearly 4,000 of its annual short-term disability claims, and is often a contributing factor in long-term disability claims. Obesity-related disabilities cost companies $12 billion each year in increased health care costs, absenteeism, and lost productivity. This amounts to an annual average of $8,720 per employee, Unum said.

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson noted that obesity-related health conditions account for about 7% of total U.S. health care costs, weighing down an already strained health care system. "A lot can be changed by changing our habits," Thompson said. "We're just too darn fat in America."

As a result, HHS has announced it hopes to raise awareness of the problem by offering one free physical to every Medicare-eligible senior beginning in January 2005. Thompson said the "Welcome to Medicare physicals" aim to save employers and taxpayers money by encouraging them to see a physician before more complicated and expensive treatments could become necessary.