ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the research on the economic costs of obesity. Specifically, it reports estimates of the causal effect of obesity on two major categories of costs: 1) direct medical care costs; and 2) indirect job absenteeism costs. Recent estimates indicate that obesity raises medical care costs by US$2,781 per individual with obesity, doubling medical care costs relative to those of normal weight. The aggregate medical care costs of obesity in adults in the United States in 2016 were US$289 billion. Obesity also raises a worker's number of missed workdays by an average of three per year, more than doubling the number of workdays missed due to illness. Estimates of the aggregate productivity loss due to obesity-related job absenteeism in the United States range from a lower bound of US$14.9 billion to an upper bound of US$29.8 billion. These costs are useful for estimating the negative externalities associated with obesity, for calculating the cost-effectiveness of policies to prevent and reduce obesity, and for making the business case for a private firm to take steps such as adopting a wellness program or including weight loss drugs on their health insurance formulary.
