According to the Director of the C.D.C, Thomas Frieden: “Obesity, and with it diabetes, are the only major health problems that are getting worse in this country, and they’re getting worse rapidly.”  This statement is backed up by numbers published in a study in the journal Health Affairs.   

This report was presented in the New York Times in July of 2009, and the information is alarming.  Obese Americans spend 42 percent more on healthcare than other Americans, and most of this overage goes towards prescription drugs that manage their obesity related issues.  In 2008, obesity related conditions ate up 10 percent of all medical spending in the United States.  Americans spend an average of $3,400 a year on healthcare, and obese Americans spend roughly $1,429 more than that each year.   That’s substantial.

This brings us directly back to the importance of wellness programs in your company that improve the health of your employees, because employees with these issues drain your bottom line.  Wellness programs provide life changing information that your employees can absorb and then implement.  Convenience is the key.  We’ve said it before, and it bears repeating: employee health and wellness translates directly to your company’s healthy bottom line.  Numbers don’t lie.