Even Modest Weight Loss Tied to Lower Health Care Spending

FRIDAY, Dec. 6, 2024 (HealthDay News) — A reduction in body mass index in adults with overweight or obesity is associated with lower health care spending, according to a study published online Dec. 5 in JAMA Network Open.

Kenneth E. Thorpe, Ph.D., and Peter J. Joski, M.S.P.H., from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta, estimated health care spending among adults with overweight or obesity and employer-sponsored insurance (13,435 adults) or Medicare (3,774 adults). Data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey-Household Component were used to tabulate total annual health care spending and associations by body mass index (BMI).

The researchers found that adults with employer-sponsored insurance with a weight loss of 5 percent were estimated to spend a mean of $670 less on health care (8 percent less). Adults with a weight loss of 25 percent spent an estimated mean of $2,849 less on health care (34 percent less). For adults with Medicare coverage and one or more comorbid conditions, a 5 percent weight loss was associated with a spending reduction of $1,262 (7 percent less), while a 25 percent weight loss was associated with a reduction in health care spending by a mean of $5,442 (31 percent less).

“Projected savings started at modest levels of weight loss and accelerated by multiples as weight loss percentage increased,” the authors write.

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