“Medicare for All” would save the U.S $5.1 Trillion over 10 years

[u/The-Lucky-Investor]

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/11/30/easy-pay-something-costs-less-new-study-shows-medicare-all-would-save-us-51-trillion

[u/imposta424]

How much would we save if overweight adults dropped to below 20%?

[u/GeekShallInherit → u/imposta424]

Not much.

The UK recently did a study and they found that from the three biggest healthcare risks; obesity, smoking, and alcohol, they realize a net savings of £22.8 billion (£342/$474 per person) per year. This is due primarily to people with health risks not living as long (healthcare for the elderly is exceptionally expensive), as well as reduced spending on pensions, income from sin taxes, etc..

In the US there are 106.4 million people that are overweight, at an additional lifetime healthcare cost of $3,770 per person average. 98.2 million obese at an average additional lifetime cost of $17,795. 25.2 million morbidly obese, at an average additional lifetime cost of $22,619. With average lifetime healthcare costs of $879,125, obesity accounts for 0.99% of our total healthcare costs.

https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1038/oby.2008.290

We're spending 165% more than the OECD average on healthcare--that works out to over half a million dollars per person more over a lifetime of care--and you're worried about 0.99%?

Here's another study, that actually found that lifetime healthcare for the obese are lower than for the healthy.

Although effective obesity prevention leads to a decrease in costs of obesity-related diseases, this decrease is offset by cost increases due to diseases unrelated to obesity in life-years gained. Obesity prevention may be an important and cost-effective way of improving public health, but it is not a cure for increasing health expenditures...In this study we have shown that, although obese people induce high medical costs during their lives, their lifetime health-care costs are lower than those of healthy-living people but higher than those of smokers. Obesity increases the risk of diseases such as diabetes and coronary heart disease, thereby increasing health-care utilization but decreasing life expectancy. Successful prevention of obesity, in turn, increases life expectancy. Unfortunately, these life-years gained are not lived in full health and come at a price: people suffer from other diseases, which increases health-care costs. Obesity prevention, just like smoking prevention, will not stem the tide of increasing health-care expenditures.

https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/files/46007081/Lifetime_Medical_Costs_of_Obesity.PDF

For further confirmation we can look to the fact that healthcare utilization rates in the US are similar to its peers.

https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/salinas/HealthCareDocuments/4.%20Health%20Care%20Spending%20in%20the%20United%20States%20and%20Other%20High-Income%20Countries%20JAMA%202018.pdf

One final way we can look at it is to see if there is correlation between obesity rates and increased spending levels between various countries. There isn't.

https://i.imgur.com/d31bOFf.png

We aren't using significantly more healthcare--due to obesity or anything else--we're just paying dramatically more for the care we do receive.

[u/Main_Chocolate_1396 → u/GeekShallInherit]

Phewww. Glad I don’t smoke.