Health Cares

The statistics are everywhere: most of the adults in the United States are overweight or obese. These conditions are, of course, responsible for increased health care costs owing to chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease. The patient may pick up some of these excess expenses, but society incurs the majority of the costs in the form of increased insurance premiums across the board, bigger taxes to pay for government-sponsored medical care or unemployment benefits, and decreased productivity including lost wages and reduced workplace efficiency.