Money: The Obesity Charge

Being overweight puts a burden on your wallet as well as your health

Tipping the scales at well above your ideal weight is not just a personal health problem. It also has a monetary cost that falls heavily on both the 64% of American adults who are obese and society at large.

Overweight and obese Americans spend $700 more a year on medical bills than those who are not overweight. That comes to a total of about $93 billion in extra medical expenses a year, says economist Eric Finkelstein of RTI International in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Many of these costs are passed on to all Americans in the form of greater premiums and...

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