If residents of the state were to achieve a proper BMI, the savings would be tremendous.
A report released about the cost of health insurance in Wisconsin has shown that the state could save up to $11.96 billion if its residents shed an average of 5 percent of their body mass index (BMI) by the year 2030.
Even the smallest efforts could make a tremendous difference to reduce the obesity problem.
It has been recommended that schools and workplaces increase their activity levels and that fresh vegetables and fruits be made more affordable. These minor changes to the overall lifestyle in the state could help overweight and obese residents to lose an average of ten pounds. The keys to reaching this goal are as simple as healthy eating and more exercise, and the impact on the cost of health insurance is staggering.
The report was only one of many state by state health insurance documents released this week.
These reports were created by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It also helped to spread awareness regarding the difference that reducing obesity can make to decreasing the costs associated with chronic diseases related to that weight disorder, such as type 2 diabetes, which is increasingly rampant among the Baby Boomers generation.
According to the report, an individual who is 5 feet and 10 inches tall and who weighs 2010 pounds would need to lose only 10 and a half pounds in order to reduce the BMI by 5 percent. This would also bring that individual out of the lower end of the obesity rating (which begins at a BMI of 30) and into the overweight rating, with a BMI of 28.6, instead. This relatively small difference in body mass makes a tremendous difference in medical risks and health insurance costs.
The Trust for America’s Health executive director, Jeff Levi, explained that “Obesity is one of the most challenging health crises the country has ever faced.” The report, entitled “F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2012” pointed out that the South and the Midwest states have far higher obesity rates than the rest of the country. It also indicated that should this current trend continue, then 56.3 percent of the population of adults in Wisconsin could be obese by the year 2030, causing health insurance costs to skyrocket.