Perhaps it was the statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta that more than 30% of all adults in the United States are obese, a number that has more than doubled since 1980. Perhaps it was the new report that obesity may cause as many as 365,000 deaths per year at a time when Americans reportedly spend over $40 million annually on books, products and programs to help them lose weight. Or maybe it was the CDC's dire prediction that "current data indicate that the situation is worsening rather than improving." For whatever reason, the latest statistics have flagged obesity as a serious health issue that corporations can no longer ignore.
Yet according to Wharton experts and others, the dramatic increase in obesity is not what's driving employers throughout the country to address the problem. This past year, these experts say, companies seem to have declared war on fat for one simple reason: Obesity is now recognized as a real drain on companies' health care costs. "I don't think the increase in obesity, the sheer numbers, are what's driving companies to take this seriously," says Peter Cappelli, director of Wharton's Center for Human Resources. "The big driver is really the cost of health care, which corporations have to bear."
"We do know that obesity is a strong predictor of medical expenses," adds Mark V. Pauly, Wharton professor of health care systems, business and public policy. "The business case for doing something to reduce obesity is not that employees would be more productive, but that business expenses would be less costly in terms of health insurance programs." The general trend for most employers, he says, "is that sooner or later, the deal you get on health insurance depends on how expensive your workers are. And when it comes to obesity, what's made it more prominent is that it's become more prevalent.
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