Obesity's huge cost dwarfs Medicare

Mark Metherell
October 18, 2006
SMH

OBESITY cost Australians $21 billion last year - double the cost of Medicare.

Analysis by Access Economics, to be published today, has measured the impact of obesity in the loss of productivity and quality of life, and it dwarfs health costs.

The report reveals in graphic terms the drain on human resources as a result of the sharply rising incidence of costly chronic diseases associated with obesity, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, osteoarthritis and cancer.

The prevalence of obesity, now afflicting 3.24 million Australians, could more than double, to 7.2 million within 20 years if current trends persist, the analysis by Access Economics says.

It finds the heaviest losses result from the burden of disease, accounting for $17.2 billion a year and representing the non-financial costs of disability, loss of wellbeing and premature death caused by obesity.

The burden of disease figure is based on numerous studies calculating the worth Australians put on their lives in areas such as high-risk occupations. This averages $162,561 a year, and for a whole of life $3.7 million, Access Economics says.

The next biggest loss triggered by obesity was in productivity, estimated at $1.7 billion a year, flowing from the fall in output caused by reduced employment and premature death.

Obesity generates $873 million in health spending and another $804 million in carer costs.

Lost tax revenue, welfare and other government payments incurred by people with obesity was put at $358 million.

The report, commissioned by Diabetes Australia, is to be released at an obesity forum at Parliament organised by the Tasmanian Liberal senator Guy Barnett. "I was surprised and alarmed by the high figures and the finding that there could be 7.2 million Australians with obesity by 2025," he said.

"That is if we do nothing. That prognosis should be totally unacceptable."

The Federal Government has announced a $116 million project to encourage physical activity at schools and healthy tuckshop menus, but it was time for all levels of government and the community to recognise the scale of the problem, he said.

The Access Economics study focused on the impact of obesity, those with excessive body fat, and not the even more widespread numbers of Australians deemed to be overweight, who will also be vulnerable to ill-health.

It found the largest number of obese people was in the 55-59 age group, with 159,000 men and 203,000 women affected.

People with obesity have a three times higher chance of suffering type 2 diabetes and about double the chance of getting cardiovascular conditions including heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke.

Their risk of cancers including colorectal, breast, uterine and kidney cancer rises by 1.75 times and by nearly 2.5 times for osteoarthritis. More than 700,000 Australians suffers these diseases directly as a result of their obesity, the report says.

Cardiovascular disease generated the highest costs of any disease group, $12.6 billion, followed by cancers, $3.9 billion, and diabetes $2.3 billion.