NU Online News Service, Jan. 22, 2004, 11:51 a.m. EST – Obesity led to about $75 billion in U.S. medical expenditures in 2003.[@@]
Health insurers, patients, providers and other private payers had to cover half of the cost, and government health programs covered the rest, according to a study that will appear in the journal Obesity Research.
Researchers at the Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, N.C., and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control conducted the study using government survey data.
The researchers calculated the percentage of health care dollars going to obesity-related care in each state.