Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Medicaid policies vary from state-to-state. With the advent of new, GLP-1 medications (and others) to treat obesity and overweight, there are potentially significant health benefits to be gained. However, are State Medicaid Agencies actually covering these medications? This is the question asked by Liu et al. (2024). They use data from public state Medicaid formulary…
That is the title of a study presented this week at the Obesity Week conference. This is work used a distributional cost effectiveness analysis approach for measuring the value of semaglutide 2.4 mg for the treatment of patients with obesity and overweight. It was conducted with co-authors Joshua Toliver, Mads Faurby, Jaehong Kim, Sanjana Muthukrishnan…
A study by the World Obesity Foundation predicts that more than half the global population will be living with overweight and obesity within 12 years if prevention, treatment and support do not improve. The report also predicts that the global economic burden of overweight and obesity will be $4.32 trillion or approximately 2.9% of global…
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…
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…
Cross sectional analysis finds that individuals with lower income are more likely to be overweight or obese. Does this imply that increased income causes weight loss? A paper by Au and Johnston (2015) find the opposite result. In this paper, we use nationally representative panel data and exogenous wealth shocks (primarily inheritances and lottery wins)…
This is the title of an Atlantic article that finds the that although more woman than men are obese, this gap narrows for high-income women. One reason for this difference could be that women are more penalized than men for being fat. In fact, the Atlantic finds that the annual cost of obesity is $4,879…
Michelle Obama’s is deeply involved in her recently involved in fight against childhood obesity. Eating healthy and exercising more is a laudable goal. But do we want the government operatives taking the role of a Biggest Loser Drill Sergent? Could government weight monitoring become a reality? Maybe. In an interview with Marv Albert, President Barack…
Researches at UNC found that marriage may make you happy and healthy but fat as well. If you’ve been a loyal reader of the Healthcare Economist, however, you knew that already. Jason Shafrin’s research on marriage and weight gain already showed that marriage leads to increased weight gain. In fact, the research demonstrated that one…
Obesity is growing problem in the United States. As more people become increasingly obese, mortality rates will increase (or at least decrease less slowly than would have otherwise been the case). However, increased mortality may be a blessing for Uncle Sam. As more elderly die earlier from obesity-related diseases, the government will be able to…