How Childhood Obesity is
Impacting Your Company
E
Key Stats
• 1 in 3 of U.S. kids are
overweight or obese
• Children typically
comprise 25% of an
employer’s total covered population
• Annual medical costs
for obese children are
3x higher
• Overweight children
are hospitalized 3x
more often
• Overweight kids miss
12.2 days of school
each year
• Parents of overweight
kids lose 2–4 hours of
work each day dealing
with issues related to
their child’s weight
very year, employers in the
U.S. spend over $14.3 billion
on healthcare for overweight
children. It is estimated that
childhood obesity will cost
society over $1 trillion dollars
if all of today’s obese American
youth become obese adults.i But
childhood obesity has more than
just a financial cost. Parenting
an overweight child can be a
serious source of stress for an
employee, resulting in reduced
focus, creativity, and efficiency at
work. The many costs of childhood
obesity affect not only individuals
and families, but also coworkers
and employers.
Childhood obesity is becoming
prevalent in the U.S., where more
than half of adults are overweight.
Today, one in three American
children are overweight or obese
— that’s 24 million children. This
rate has tripled in the last 30 years
and the numbers continue to rise.
Despite public health campaigns
such as First Lady Michelle
Obama’s Let’s Move initiative,
childhood obesity has largely been
marginalized as a public health
concern and few employers have
recognized the role of childhood
obesity on their employees’ wellness. But the numbers are becoming too high to ignore: childhood
obesity is a growing problem, with
tremendous costs for employers.
Overweight and obese children
impact their parent’s employers in
three critical ways: direct payment
for obesity related medical care,
lost productivity from caregivingrelated absenteeism, and lost
productivity from presenteeism.
Let’s explore each one.
Overweight children
cost more
Overweight and obese children
are 20 times more likely to need
medical care and their medical
© 2016 Kurbo Health, Inc. • 1.800.444.7158 • www.kurbo.com • [email protected]
Overweight children are
20 times more likely to
need medical care.
costs are three times higher than
those of healthy weight children.
The average annual health care
expense for an obese child
under private insurance is $3,743
compared to $1,108 for a healthy
weight child. The picture is worse
for Medicaid, where an obese
child costs $6,730 compared to
$2,446 for a normal weight child.
With children under 25 comprising
approximately one-third of
the total population covered
by an employerii, these costs
are significant.
Importantly, it is not the excess
weight that is the only issue
— there’s also the increased
incidence of other costly
health issues such as type 2
diabetes, high blood pressure,
high cholesterol, sleep apnea,
bone and joint problems, and
social and psychological issues.
Each of these related issues
compounds the costs of childhood
obesity. Overweight children are
hospitalized three times more
frequently than healthy weight
children, and hospitalizations are
on average 40% longer.iv Costs
for children can be much higher
than for adults — for instance, the
insurance claim for a child with
type 2 diabetes can be $2,000
more than the insurance claim
for an adult.iii
Childhood obesity
triggers absenteeism
Needing more medical care
more frequently not only costs
employers and parents money,
but also costs a parent’s — and
a company’s — time. Obese
children are absent more often
than normal weight children;
obese children miss 12.2 days of
school each year, often due to
health-related issues.v Parents of
overweight children tend to miss
more days of work, have higher
rates of work tardiness, and
leave work early more often for
childcare-related reasons.
A source of stress
and distraction
Besides being absent more often
from work, parents of overweight
children also contribute to higher
presenteeism. Overweight kids are
likelier to fall behind in school, and
to face social difficulties, emotional
trauma, and psychological
illnesses such as low self-esteem
and depression. This can be
extremely stressful for a parent
juggling their own health issues
with their career and family roles.
The stress of parenting an
overweight child can impact an
employee’s productivity at work in
several ways. While at work, these
employees will spend time calling
doctors, dealing with insurance
claims, and seeking resources
to help their children. They will
worry about their child’s health,
bullying issues, missed days of
school, and whether they are
being responsible parents. Stress
not only reduces focus, but also
Parents of overweight children
are less productive and more
stressed at work.
© 2016 Kurbo Health, Inc. • 1.800.444.7158 • www.kurbo.com • [email protected]
Family-based health interventions
can be more effective than those
targeting individuals.
efficiency, creativity, and workplace
positivity. Further, stress and
negativity are known to be socially
contagious. This social influence
spreads quickly and has been
termed a “halo effect”.vi
The presenteeism cost of an
obese employee is estimated to
cost employers $506 per obese
worker each year.vii While the
presenteeism cost of childhood
obesity is unknown, we do know
that parents tend to worry about
their children much more than
about themselves. Consequently,
the presenteeism cost for parents
with an obese child is likely higher
than that of an obese adult. This
loss of productivity is a significant
indirect cost for employers.
How employers can
change this
Childhood obesity is a societal
challenge, and everyone
is impacted — financially,
emotionally, or physically. But
employers are uniquely positioned
to help change this. Employers
can ensure that parents have the
necessary information, education,
and tools to raise healthier
families. It’s not enough to create
a healthy work environment
only by changing cafeteria food,
promoting healthy food rules at
meetings, or providing on-site
fitness centers. In order to address
employee wellness thoroughly,
employers must equip employees
with the right tools to develop
healthy lifestyles at home.
By supporting employees to raise
healthier children, employers can
make their workforce healthier.
Corporate interventions that
involve the entire family can be
more than twice as effective in
establishing healthy changes
than strategies that target just
the employee. IBM conducted
a study, vetted by the American
Academy of Pediatrics, which
showed that getting children
involved leads to healthier habits
for the entire family.viii The halo
effect also applies to weight gain
and weight loss: those who lose
weight influence others around
them to adopt healthier habits
and lose weight too.vi
The good news is that there are
science-based tools proven to
reduce childhood obesity and
address wellness on a family scale.
When integrated into a company’s
wellness program, these tools can
help everyone — from alleviating
the day-to-day stresses of the
parent, to cutting back the healthcare costs and long-term price of
reduced productivity and creativity
that employers pay.
With 80% of overweight youth
becoming overweight adults,
employers that address childhood
obesity are going far beyond
making their company immediately
healthier… they are also investing
in a healthier future workforce.
i.
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/events/2015/05/12-economic-costs-of-obesity/0512obesity-presentation-v6-rm.pdf
ii. http://www.businessgrouphealth.org/pub/f312aec3-2354-d714-51ef-520ecd67dbfc
iii. http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/29/3/513.full
iv. https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb138.jsp
v. http://www.nccor.org/downloads/ChildhoodObesity_020509.pdf
vi. http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/03/12/148330045/gain-together-lose-togetherthe-weight-loss-halo-effect
vii. http://stateofobesity.org/cost-containment/
viii. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/126/5/e1153.full.pdf
© 2016 Kurbo Health, Inc. • 1.800.444.7158 • www.kurbo.com • [email protected]