Estimating the Economic Cost of Obesity

Using 2001-2016 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys (MEPS) data from working adults, a paper by Cawley et al. (2021) find that:  Adults with obesity in the United States compared with those with normal weight experienced higher annual medical care costs by $2,505 or 100%, with costs increasing significantly with class of obesity, from 68.4% for class…

Exercising works

Not a surprise, but the study approach used by Kulaja et al. (2022) is interesting. They examine identical twins an examine how early adult exercise habits impact long term health outcomes. The abstract is below. …monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs discordant for health habits provide an interesting natural experiment. Twin pairs discordant for leisure‐time physical activity…

Unintended effects of soda taxes

Soda taxes seem like a sensible tax. Most studies show that soda is not healthy and taxing something that leads to negative health benefits seems like a reasonable policy. A key question, however, is whether soda taxes–more formally known as taxes on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs)–lead to a reduction in soda consumption and healthier eating…

Economic burden of antibiotic resistance

Today, one of my studies was published. The title of the study was “Economic burden of antibiotic-not-susceptible isolates in uncomplicated urinary tract infection: Analysis of a US integrated delivery network database” This is work with co-authors Alen Marijam, Ashish V. Joshi, Fanny S. Mitrani-Gold, Katie Everson, Rifat Tuly, Peter Rosenquist, Michael Gillam & Maria Elena…

Benefits of a Healthy Workforce

That is the title of a recent FTI Journal article from my colleague Margaret E. Guerin-Calvert, the President, of FTI Consulting’s Center for Healthcare Economics and Policy. An excerpt is below. Indeed, pre-pandemic data collected by FTI Consulting’s Center for Healthcare Economics and Policy for two metropolitan areas, Buffalo and Nashville, portends trouble. Just three chronic conditions…

Obesity Across America

The Urban Institute has an interesting report titled Obesity Across America. Being overweight (BMS>25), obese (BMI>30) or severely obese (BMI>40) is very common in the U.S. with three quarters of individuals being overweight and nearly half obese. Obesity varies by race and ethnicity as well. Black adults are more likely to live with obesity than…