Request for clarification by Researcher czh on Thu 5 Nov 2009 - 9:33 pm UTC:

Hello thehealthyguy,

My preliminary research shows that the information you’re looking for is
not generally available. The main reason is that the health insurance
industry is very competitive so neither the insurance providers or
employers want to reveal their positions. 

Even if this information were available, picking a representative company
would be very difficult because of the high number of variables. The price
of providing health insurance benefits depends on the size of the company,
the amount of coverage they want to provide and the health plans available
in the geographic area. Large companies will have variable rates for
multiple locations.

I found some surveys, reports and articles that provide averages for some
of the information you’re looking for. There might be averaged
information for companies grouped by size or industry. There are some
surveys, but mostly anecdotal stories, about positive or negative incentive
plans for employees to modify their behavior that is likely to affect their
health. Some of the incented behaviors are smoking, BMI, cholesterol and
blood pressure and yearly checkups.

Based on my preliminary research I’ve concluded that the information
you’re looking for is not readily available in line with the price of
your question. It might not be available at all or may be available only in
expensive market research reports. There is a lot of related statistical
information available from various government agencies.

I suggest that you modify your question to find generalized information
instead since individual company prices and requirements are not publicly
available. I await your response on how you want to proceed. 

Thanks,

Clara aka ~ czh ~

Request for clarification by Researcher davidsarokin on Sun 8 Nov 2009 - 2:07 pm UTC:

thehealthyguy,

This study provides an excellent overview of what's known about health care
costs in relation to individual weight:

http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan04004/efan04004g.pdf
Health Insurance, Obesity, and Its Economic Costs


The authors note that obesity adds about $10,000 to lifetime medical costs,
while being overweight adds $2,200-$5,300.


Does that information get you the comparison you're looking for?

David

Request for clarification by Researcher bobbie7 on Sun 8 Nov 2009 - 5:39 pm UTC:

thehealthyguy,

The study  "National Medical Spending Attributable To Overweight And
Obesity: How Much, And Who’s Paying?"by Eric A. Finkelstein offers a
wealth of information.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.w3.219v1/DC1


See Exhibit 2 
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/vol0/issue2003/images/data/hlthaff.w3.219v1/DC1/Finkelstein_Ex2.gif

"Exhibit 2 shows the average dollar and percentage increase in per capita
annual medical spending attributed to overweight and obesity. The estimated
increase associated with being overweight is 14.5 percent ($247) and ranges
between 11.4 percent ($53) for out-of-pocket spending and 15.1 percent
($271) for Medicaid spending. Only the out-of-pocket estimate, which
includes payments by the uninsured and noncovered payments by those in the
other insurance categories, however, is statistically significant (p <
.05)."

"The average increase in annual medical spending associated with obesity is
37.4 percent ($732) and ranges from 26.1 percent ($125) for out-of-pocket
to 36.8 percent ($1,486) for Medicare and 39.1 percent ($864) for Medicaid.
Estimates for all payers are statistically significant (p < .05)."

See Exhibit 3
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/vol0/issue2003/images/data/hlthaff.w3.219v1/DC1/Finkelstein_Ex3.gif



See Exhibit 4
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/vol0/issue2003/images/data/hlthaff.w3.219v1/DC1/Finkelstein_Ex4.gif

Do these figures and statistics help you?

Bobbie7

Request for clarification by Researcher bobbie7 on Sun 8 Nov 2009 - 5:54 pm UTC:

This updated study might also interest you:
Article Title:  Annual medical spending attributable to obesity: Payer- and
service-specific estimates 
Publication:  Health Affairs 
Type:  Journal Article 
Date:  2009 
Authors:  Finkelstein, E.A., Trogdon, J.G., Cohen, J.W., Dietz, W. 

http://www.rti.org/publications/abstract.cfm?pub=13189

http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/28/5/w822