Health Care Costs

Health care costs are out of control, and poor lifestyle habits are largely to blame.

The cost of physical inactivity

It's estimated that sedentary living - not moving around very much - costs our nation $150 billion in direct health care expenses.*

70% - 80% of employees don't get enough activity to lower their health risks. In fact, 15% of all health care expenditures are due to sedentary lifestyles.* 

Employers can figure 15% of their annual health care expenses and get an idea of what inactive employees are costing them.

Obesity costs

Nearly 1 in 3 Americans is now considered obese, and the number climbs each year. About 12% of health care expenses are directly related to obesity.*  An organization with $1 million in annual premiums has an obesity burden of $120,000. This relates directly to costs associated with treating obesity-related conditions.

To compound the issue, if you treat a non-obese person versus an obese person for the same medical condition, it costs roughly $1,200 more to treat the obese person per condition.*  This is due to increased complications, slower recovery, more medications, etc.

Poor nutrition

Beyond sedentary lifestyles and obesity, the missing link is nutrition. Poor nutrition plus inactivity are the two key drivers in our nation's obesity pandemic. Poor nutrition is directly correlated with four of the top 10 causes of death - heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes.

Altogether, if you factor in the costs of inactivity, obesity, and poor nutrition, 35% - 40% of an organization's health care expenses are caused by these three main factors.  If you throw tobacco-related costs into the mix, 70% of an organization's health care costs are preventable.*

* Wellness Council of America