Obesity Spending Accounts For Nearly 21 Percent Of US Healthcare Spending.

HealthDay  (4/13, Preidt) reports "obesity accounts for nearly 21 percent of US health care spending, which is more than twice as high as previous estimates," according to a study published in the Journal of Health Economics. One researcher said that "the findings strengthen the case for government intervention to prevent obesity." The investigators "found that an obese person's medical costs are $2,741 a year higher (in 2005 dollars) than if they were not obese," which "works out to $190.2 billion a year nationally, or 20.6 percent of total US health spending."