...nation. The crisis is obesity. It’s the fastest growing cause of death in America.” According to a government reports, 60 percent of Americans are overweight, and 25 percent are grossly overweight and at medical risk in this country. This condition contributes to approximately 400,000 deaths each year, drains U.S. economy of billions of dollars in direct and indirect medical expenses, disability, and lost productivity. The American culture of obesity is not just a societal trend. It also has strong cultural and economic roots. The economic interests that drive US cultural practices are rarely explained in the media, which makes solving the obesity problem especially difficult. US government officials have become aware of the huge health costs related to diabetes and hypertension, first on individuals, then on the society as whole, through lost productivity and through costs associated with expanding healthcare facilities to serve the increasing number of people with diet-related medical problems. But simple awareness is not enough. Now, when obesity has increasingly becoming a major threat to society and the biggest burden on economy, active government intervention is needed to combat this crisis. Government must develop new economic incentives for businesses and individuals to promote and implement a healthier lifestyle. Obesity is unique in that it is viewed as chronic disease. It is increasing at rates previously only seen with infectious diseases. Obesity is a leading cause...
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...prevalence of overweight and obesity, even in nations that are considered to have low incidences like Japan and China. (Runge, 2007). It is linked to a collection of expensive and incapacitating health outcomes. Studies have shown that two out of three American grown adults are now overweight, and also, one out of are three obese. Health risks linked with obesity are not limited to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, some cancers, high blood pressure, asthma, osteoarthritis, and liver disease, which almost 80 percent of obese adults are plagued with. (Hammond, 2012). These diseases carry high prices socially and economically. Medical costs for the obese people is assessed to be 36 to 100 percent higher than those without weight challenge, that is healthy weight individuals. Results by some studies indicates, that approximately 21 percent of all medical spending is obesity related, increased rates of disability and reduced productivity also comes as a result of obesity. (Hammond, 2012) Obesity is also linked to almost 400,000 deaths per year in the United States. (Gabel, et al. 2009) Early prevention can yield significant savings from the health care stand point. A 5 percent reduction in the occurrence of diabetes and hypertension would save almost $25 billion a year in health care costs. (Hammond, 2012). Obesity constitute both public health issues and economic problems in various ways it also induces social and private costs. The cost of treating obesity and the chronic conditions...
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...September 20, 2013 sally kohls Health Campaign on Obesity Health Campaign Part 1 Summary In Part 1 of this paper, the issues of obesity and some of the initiatives implemented nationally ad locally was examined in the state of Texas. Due to the in depth concern of the growing effects on obesity, the initiatives of this paper focused on the impact of obesity for children on all levels of communities. Furthermore, the paper also pointed out the importance of addressing the importance of fight on obesity. This paper identified the statistics of this disease from data gathered from Healthy People 2020 showing that the obesity rate has increased by 57% amongst adults ages 20 and over from 22.8% to 35.7% between 1988-1994 and 2009-2010. Also during the same time frame, children and adolescents obesity rate climbed the charts for ages 2 to 19 by 69% from 10.0% to 16.9%. Health Campaign Part 1 also explored the prevalence to how in the state of Texas the range from 20.5% in Colorado to 34.7% in Louisiana in 2012. This identified that no states had a prevalence of obesity less than 20% (CDC, 2012). In the continuing efforts of addressing the pubic health issues, community organizations, the state and federal governments have implemented a serious role in taking steps to help with the concerning disease of obesity. Local communities and agencies have collectively come together to help with the fight on adult and childhood obesity. The community outreach has involved parents, teachers...
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...Supply and demand serves as the foundation of economic analysis. Pricing and output decisions are based on forces underlying these two economics concepts. Rationing using prices comes about when goods and services are allocated in the market based on the consumer’s willingness to pay and the suppliers’ willingness to provide at a given price (Dewar, 2010). The treatment for obesity is in high demand right now because it is a huge epidemic within our country and because it is such a big problem physicians are coming up with new treatments to help prevent and stop obesity. Procedures such as the Lap Band and gastric bypass surgery are treatments that were not around twenty years ago but are now so common because there is such a demand for it. 2. Discuss the impact on State funds for Medicare and Medicaid. See Table 1, Estimated Adult Obesity-Attributable Percentages and Expenditures, by State (BRFSS 1998–2000). Overweight and obesity and their associated health problems (diabetes, high-cholesterol, heart disease) have had a significant economic impact on the U.S health care system. Medical expenses for the treatment of the overweight and obese accounted for 9.1 percent of total U.S. medical expenditures in 1998 and may have reached as high as $78.5 billion. Half of these costs were paid by Medicaid and Medicare (Obesity Related, n.d) 3. Speaking as a health care economist, what would you recommend to lower the costs for your particular state of residence? I would recommend...
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...Rebecca C. Segal Grand Canyon University: HCA 240 07/22/2012 Monica Stults This paper is about the world of obesity and how it affects the individual, the community, the population and the healthcare industry. Most Unites States residents expect to live long healthy lives. The economic impact of obesity and its associated health issues can a will have a tremendous impact on the Unites States Healthcare System. The impact will affect both profit and non-profits organizations with its rising health insurance cost, transportation cost, and its increased human capital cost. Obesity is an epidemic that pays no attention to the economic status of the individual and is no longer just a disease diagnosed just in adults. Obesity has spread from one side of the United States to the other touching adults and children alike. Today’s children are living with an epidemic that will surely shorten their lives. Obesity in children can affect virtually every organ system in the child’s body causing many medical conditions from high blood pressure to diabetes. Obesity varies across the United States touching each and every culture. Recent increases in obesity likely result from the interaction of biological, social, and cultural factors within an environment char¬acterized by limited opportunities for physical activity and an abundance of high-calorie foods. In today’s society more than 12.4 percent of all children residing...
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...Non-communicable diseases are said to be diseases of lifestyle, and obesity, a disease in which someone’s BMI is 30 or over is now a very common, yet preventable, disease with many impacts. 67% of people in the UK have weight issues, with 1 in 4 being obese and an extra 40% being overweight; it has even been suggested that it has ‘pandemic proportions’ due to its global reach – in 2008, 10% of the world was said to be obese. The WHO claim obesities recent rise has been due to two factors: ‘an increased intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat; and an increase in physical inactivity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanisation’. The main issue with the former is that the energy-dense, high in fat foods are cheap. This means they’re affordable for people who lack money for more nutritious food and so globally there has been a massive increase in the purchasing of high fat foods – especially in the areas where expensive, healthier food isn’t available. But just what are the impacts of such a large scale problem? Three main issues have arisen from obesity, these being: social, political, and economical – all of which link but also differ in their affects. The health implications of having a raised BMI are very severe; high blood pressure and high cholesterol are just two of many possible communicable diseases that are a result of obesity. Life expectancy can be reduced to up to 9 years and cardiovascular...
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...Economics and Human Biology 11 (2013) 134–147 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Economics and Human Biology journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ehb Fast food prices, obesity, and the minimum wage Chad Cotti a, Nathan Tefft b,* a b Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Oshkosh, WI 54901, USA Department of Economics, Bates College, Lewiston, ME 04240, USA A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history: Received 1 August 2011 Received in revised form 22 March 2012 Accepted 9 April 2012 Available online 15 April 2012 Recent proposals argue that a fast food tax may be an effective policy lever for reducing population weight. Although there is growing evidence for a negative association between fast food prices and weight among adolescents, less is known about adults. That any measured relationship to date is causal is unclear because there has been no attempt to separate variation in prices on the demand side from that on the supply side. We argue that the minimum wage is an exogenous source of variation in fast food prices, conditional on income and employment. In two-stage least-squares analyses, we find little evidence that fast food price changes affect adult BMI or obesity prevalence. Results are robust to including controls for area and time fixed effects, area time trends, demographic characteristics, substitute prices, numbers of establishments and employment in related industries...
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...Word count : 2082 This assignment serves the purpose of identifying and critically examining being overweight and obesity in the context of urbanization and globalization and the role it plays in the mental and physical health of Australians. Obesity rates among Australians are high and have been increasing at a rate faster than any other country a part of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (Department of Infrastructure and Transport, 2011). More than 60 percent of adults and 25 per cent of children are overweight or obese in Australia and this percentage is projected to rise 15 per cent over the next decade (Department of Infrastructure and Transport, 2011). Following on from an overview of the description of the issue, a discussion of the history of obesity and health will be given, including the role that social policy has played. In past, being overweight was a sign of affluence, fertility, prosperity and art, however now with increased medical and scientific research the health risks are identified, yet obesity is now found in high percentages amongst the socio economically disadvantaged. An analysis of the effectiveness of current policy on health and obesity will be given with particular reference to the United Nations Declaration of human rights which highlights the right of every person to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of themselves and their family, including food (United Nations, n.d). In an ever increasing globalised...
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...How Can We Rid Childhood Obesity? Childhood obesity is a pandemic that has reached worldwide distribution. A problem as rampant as this is having a direct negative correlation with education and the way kids learn in America. “More than one third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese” (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). For the next generation to succeed and someday be responsible for many of the leadership roles that run this country, there needs to be immediate action. Childhood obesity has a negative effect on development on education, it’s time to start educating children on the many ways to make healthy decisions that will ultimately come back and benefit the education system and learning process itself. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention classifies childhood obesity as a disease and psychological disorder meaning that it directly affects brain function. A child being overweight is classified as a body mass index at or higher than the eighty-fifth percentile and lower than the ninety-fifth percentile for those among the same age and sex. For childhood obesity, it is classified as a body mass index at or higher than the ninety-fifth percentile among the same ages and sexes (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). One without any knowledge or background of public health can conclude that if obesity directly affects brain function, that it must also affect leaning in school. According to Juliette Kellow’s research, the performance of...
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...Tammy Thacker Obesity and the Proposal of Fat Tax English Composition II Dr. Wells October 27, 2014 Obesity and the Proposal of Fat Tax Obesity has become an epidemic in the United States of America. It is affecting our children's health to the point where they are being diagnosed with early onset diabetes and hypertension. . Obesity is the result of eating high fat, high protein foods along with a serious sedentary lifestyle. I intend to show that although obesity is on the rise applying fat tax is not the answer to our problem. Obesity is defined, medically as having a body mass index of more than 30. However, it can be effectively curtailed by lowering your caloric intake, exercise, and implementing healthier school lunches. The medical risks associated with excessive body weight is many and varied, include: osteoarthritis, coronary artery disease, stroke, and high cholesterol. Some people with obesity suffer from stress, low self-esteem, social disadvantaged and depression. According to data collected in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999), amongst U. S. adults aged 20-74 years obesity has nearly doubled from approximately 15% in 1980 to an estimated 27% in 1999. (Clark & Dittrich, November 2010) The obesity epidemic affects the world in the form of increase health insurance cost, medical bills related to different illness that occurs while being obese. It also poses for an increase in regular taxes so that the government can accommodate...
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...Fast Food Workers’ Rights At a glance it is easy to see that the winning formula for the high economic success in the fast food industry is comprised of cheap food and cheap labor. Their ability to sell food at a low price in a matter of minutes caters to families or individuals limited on time or money, and in many cases both of these factors are of equal importance. Inordinately the consumption of low cost labor in the fast food industry has resulted in an underpaid and under protected workforce. In many ways limitations on workers’ rights in the fast food industry have been instrumental in the high profitability of the corporations that dominate it; however, the formation of unions or other sources of support for fast food workers would have implications on the price and/or quality of the final products sold. These implications, in particularly the price of the food, would force a complete restructure of the expectations and needs of customers who currently frequent the restaurants. A key element in sourcing low cost labor has been the excessive employment of teenagers. The fast food industry has exploited the needs and vulnerability of teenagers in order to create a high turnover workforce that is willing to accept low wages and easily taught. The industry has capitalized on assembly line production models, which require little skills from the workers; however, the machinery necessary for these conditions is often times dangerous and violates OSHA guidelines for...
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...calorie intake from school lunch and breakfast, schools contribute to their lifelong health and dietary patterns. Schools have to be models for healthy eating habits. Improving school meal program is very crucial in our children nutrition and health. Especially as childhood obesity is a big concern in our nation and it is a cause for many chronic illnesses like type 2 diabetes, blood pressure and high cholesterol. Different studies and researches have shown that school meals are risk factors for childhood obesity. In an effort to stop obesity and the associated health risks, the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) was signed into law by President Barack Obama to change School Lunch Program (SLNP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP). The Law requires USDA to establish science based nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools during the school day. With the law signed there are different issues that come with it including the economic situation, the health of the population being served and the process and benefits of the program. Nutrition and Health: The Recent Changes into the School Lunch and Breakfast One of the issues related with the recent change in school lunch and breakfast is the economic situation. The government increased 6 cents per meal reimbursement for school lunch and breakfast program if the schools met the new nutrition standards but some school districts had concerns that the revenue from the vending items or competitive foods sold outside of school...
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...Epidemiology Study: Teen Obesity N J Nur 408 January 9, 2012 Felita Patterson, MPH, RN Epidemiology Study: Teen Obesity Teenage obesity is on the rise this country. In the last couple of decades, the world has changed in a startling and dramatic way. Computers, computer games, the Internet, and extended free time have pushed the numbers of teenage obesity to an alarming figure (Teen obesity, 2011). While there’s no one cause of obesity; the factors that can make someone obese are a variety of genetic, biological, behavioral, and cultural factors (AACAP, 2011). As the official website of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry explains, childhood obesity is often related to bad eating habits, overeating or binging, no exercise, family history, medical issues, stress or extreme life changes, family issues, low self-esteem, or depression (2011). Although a few extra pounds are not dangerous for most people; obesity is a serious health issue as it puts a definite strain on the human body. It can cause issues like an increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, breathing problems, trouble sleeping (AACAP, 2011). In fact, “Teenagers who have a weight problems now—that continues to increase or stay the same in terms of their weight—will likely have a much higher risk of premature death” (Gay, 2006)(p. 26). This clearly shows the tremendous and serious threat that obesity poses for teenagers. Demographical Data Every individual has an ideal...
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... 2013 DR. Michelle Clemons Health Campaign Part l of this paper examined obesity as a public health issues that faces the state of Atlanta. Further, the paper dwelt on the importance of addressing this public health issues because it has an impact on the lives of the people at the community, state, and national levels. Providers believe that environmental and community factors contribute to unhealthy habits, less physical activity, which poses a major risk for chronic health conditions. The following are chronic health conditions: diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, high cholesterol, asthma, dyspnea and depression. These health consequences can lead to premature death and chronic health conditions, which reduces the quality of life. In the Atlanta area, obesity has increased over the past 10 years in which affects an individual life. Health care organizations have established health objectives to reduce the prevalence of obesity among individuals in America. Description of the target population Obesity occurs when there is an abnormal amount of fat (adipose tissue) accumulated around the body, caused when people eat in excess of their energy requirements (Lawrence, 2005). According to National Heart and Lung Institute (2010) “the terms overweight and obesity refer to a person’s overall body weight and whether it’s too high” (What are overweight and obesity, para. 1). An individual is overweight when he or she is above a weight because of...
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...Childhood Obesity Introduction Childhood obesity has gained a lot of attention in the recent years especially the 21st century. Its prevalence over the last decade has increased tremendously. According to Wang and Lim (176), approximately 20% of school age-children in the European countries are overweight or obese with 5 percent being obese. Additionally, Wang and Lim (176), note that in North America, 15% of school age-children are obese, and 30% are overweight. Developing countries have also experienced an increase in the prevalence of obesity especially in the urban and suburban areas where the socio-economic status is high. Hence, childhood obesity is currently being associated with affluence and families that are well off. Obesity can be categorized into different levels. A case of severe obesity is defined as being greater 99th percentile of the body mass index for age and gender (Flores and Lin 31). In other cases, obesity may be defined based on the body weight/height. Thus, obesity in this case can be defined as being greater than 120% of the mean body weight/height value (Cameron, Norgan and Ellison 5). However, the body mass index (BMI) is the most common method employed in measuring obesity. The BMI is calculated by dividing an individual’s weight (kg) by the square height (meters) (Philips 14). Risk Factors associated with Childhood obesity A common risk factor is the presence of parental obese genes. According to Philips (16), parents having obese genes increase...
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