A new report by Global Data shows that obesity cost Florida $30.1 billion in 2022 ─ impacting $2.15 billion of the state budget or 4% of fiscal year revenue.
Randall Croom, associate professor of management at Stetson University, said that’s a significant amount of money that every Floridian should pay attention to.
“This influenced Medicaid costs to the tune of almost $650 million just in the state of Florida,” he said. “So when you start thinking about yourself as a taxpayer, that's a way that you're experiencing some cost.”
In addition, the report shows obesity and being overweight in 2022 cost Florida $2.8 billion in health-related absenteeism and disability costs.
“The associated ailments and diseases that come with obesity at the population level have increased the liability and responsibility for insurance companies and as well as increasing the price of insurance for people,” he said.
As employers fund insurance, Croom said, obesity is also taking a toll on who is able to work.
“The estimates in this report is over 235,000 fewer adults in the workforce,” he said. “Some of those detriments to the amount of people we have in the workforce are sometimes based on illness, but also sometimes based on premature deaths, people that would still be able to be active participants in the economy.”
According to the Florida Department of Health, approximately 64% of all residents in the state are obese or overweight.
Croom said counties hovering near the state level means the economic impact can be similar or worse for local municipalities.
Seminole County ─ with an obesity/overweight rate of 60.3% ─ is a good example of how wealth correlates to health, he said.
“Even though that number is still 60%, it is below the state average. And if you make fairly broad generalizations about socioeconomic status in Seminole County compared to some other counties,” he said, “and you see that the more affluent county has a lower rate of obesity or overweight, it sort of supports the idea that there are economic factors that certainly influence people's ability to maintain healthy weight.”
Soft and hard infrastructure
A person can become overweight or obese for a number of factors, including lifestyle and genetics, but Croom said there’s also structural issues that contribute to the problem.
A study by Preply in April found Orlando as the least walkable city in the United States.
When people cannot walk, Croom said, that removes some of the daily activity that people would be engaged in.
“We've seen several studies that have given numbers from 8,000 to 12,000, depending on your age, in terms of the number of steps that people need to take to remain healthy,” he said “And without city infrastructure that allows people to get that in their daily activities and lives, it actually is a contributing factor.”
A city’s walkability is out of most people’s control, but Croom said the social stigma around obesity that leads to economic costs can also be driven by human decision.
Croom said if obesity was thought of as a public health crisis, it could help policymakers choose different types of interventions.
Not only can it be hard to walk around some Florida cities, it can also be difficult to access healthy foods.
According to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, 531,710 residents in the region are experiencing food insecurity.
Croom said those who don’t live close to grocery stores and don’t have a car, may be relying on food with longer shelf lives, which might not be the healthiest option.
“There are many economic advantages to having foods that are shelf stable and won't go bad with food,” he said. “Being able to buy things in bulk, being able to cook and prepare foods at home, because your job allows the kind of flexibility and freedom that you can cook something, prepare something healthy. Those are sort of some of the invisible economic barriers to being even able to make healthy choices.”
Better or worse?
A study published in 2021 in the National Library of Medicine looked at the increase in individual level expenditures due to obesity by state in 2016.
For example, the study shows obesity could increase personal medical costs by 24% in Florida, 66.4% in New York and 104.9% in Texas.
Croom said factoring in the inflation of recent years, even if rates of obesity stayed the same, associated costs would have increased quite a bit.
“Which means that not only is this likely to be an increase in cost for people here in Central Florida individually, but certainly for business owners and for people who are insuring folks,” he said.
For that reason, Croom said there are some low-cost solutions, and he applauds Deltona Mayor Santiago Avila for his efforts.
The Mayor’s Fitness Challenge invites residents to various fitness activities, like conditioning with the Pine Ridge High School JROTC, cycling, power walks and more.
“There are all these great things that people can do at a local level,” said Croom. “There's no need to think that this is going to be something that is going to be horrible and painful, or even particularly costly.”
However, Croom said whatever the costs are being spent, more money will be saved in the long run as people get healthier.
“Many insurance companies incentivize and support people engaging in healthy activities,” he said. “Insurance companies are outstanding at math, and one of the conclusions they have come to is that it is much less expensive to fund prevention than it is to try to fund remediation when people are in a tough spot.”
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