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FitFeud Corporate Wellness Blog
CDC calculator tells you what obesity is really costing your organization
We've all heard the statistics about the costs of obesity to America's businesses:
- $147 billion in obesity-related medical costs
- $4.3 billion obesity-related absenteeism costs
And on and on. But what are the real costs to your particular organization? The CDC has developed a wizard-based calculator to help give you a detailed look at exactly what obesity costs your company. To get accurate data, the calculator allows you to specify your industry, state, and company demographics down to very fine detail.
To give you an idea of the type and detail of the results it gives you, here is a sample I ran for 500-person company using all default and averages:
| BMI | 25.0 - 29.9 | 30.0 - 34.9 | 35.0 - 39.9 | 40+ | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total costs attributable to High BMI | $38,100 | $81,400 | $46,500 | $45,000 | $211,100 |
| % of total costs across High BMI group | [18%] | [39%] | [22%] | [21%] | [100%] |
| Total annual medical costs attributable to High BMI | $18,700 | $59,900 | $28,200 | $28,500 | $135,300 |
| % of total costs across High BMI groups | [14%] | [44%] | [21%] | [21%] | [100%] |
| Total annual work loss costs attributable to High BMI | $19,400 | $21,500 | $18,300 | $16,500 | $75,800 |
| % of total costs across High BMI groups | [26%] | [29%] | [24%] | [22%] | [100%] |
| Annual work days lost | 71 days | 79 days | 67 days | 60 days | 277 days |
| Number of employees with High BMI | 161 | 95 | 37 | 25 | 318 |
| % of High BMI population across BMI groups | [51%] | [30%] | [12%] | [8%] | [100%] |
| Average attributable cost per high BMI employee | $237 | $857 | $1,258 | $1,801 | $664 |
| Medical Cost | $116 | $631 | $763 | $1,140 | $426 |
| Work loss Cost | $121 | $226 | $495 | $661 | $238 |
As you can see, on average, high BMI employees costs a whopping $664 extra per employee per year! No wonder we're seeing so many articles detailing the cost savings of wellness programs lately.
But don't take my word for it. Check out the CDC Obesity Cost Calculator yourself.
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