One health-related headline today suggests that obesity or being a smoker "saves money" compared to being "thin and healthy". Of course, this type of headline makes you scratch your head in disbelief, and read the article.
As I read the article, I was disappointed that the headline is extremely misleading. A direct quote from the article (complete reference at end of my post), "The researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people racked up the most expensive health costs. But because both the smokers and the obese people died sooner than the healthy group, it cost less to treat them in the long run."
This is perplexing to me, as health-related "news" continues to perpetuate misleading information. Tell me if I'm reading this incorrectly, but instead of the study comparing health care costs of obesity and smoking to healthy/thin people, they are actually saying that since obese people and smokers die earlier, that was in actually being compared are the health care costs of those "healthy/thin" people who are *living* to those "obese or smoking" people who are *not living*.
What if there is better health care for people who are obese or smoke...resulting in a longer lifespan for these individuals...then, does this study becomes irrelevant? How does this information help those of us who are smokers, who are obese, or who are thin?
It reminds me of the tobacco industry's infamous "grave defense" back in the 80's, saying that they are being a good corporate citizen by providing individuals with tobacco products because they are SAVING health care costs since their tobacco users DIE EARLIER, thus saving long-term health care costs.
I'm surprised that this article was written, about this one particular study. Love to hear your thoughts on this potentially controversial article: do you think this article was sensationalizing one particular study, or do you find that there is some important information to be extracted?
You may view the article online:
"Fat People Cheaper to Treat, Study Says"
By MARIA CHENG
The Associated Press
Tuesday, February 5, 2008; 2:58 AM