Global Health

This is where obesity places the biggest burden on healthcare

A passenger waits for a delayed flight at Heathrow airport's terminal four in London August 12, 2006. As healthcare costs in such heavyweight nations as the United States and heavy-smoking locations as Dundee keep rising, and as governments move to cut huge budget deficits, hundreds of local authorities, employers and health insurers - even the occasional former investment banker - are dabbling with health incentive schemes. The idea is simple: pay people to act now and governments will reap the rewards later in lower healthcare costs. Statistically speaking, people who shun harmful habits are more productive and have less need for expensive hospitals, doctors and medicines. Picture taken August 12, 2006. To match Special Report HEALTH-INCENTIVES/ REUTERS/Toby Melville/Files (UNITED KINGDOM - Tags: BUSINESS HEALTH SOCIETY) - GM1E67F1M9501

A passenger waits for a delayed flight at Heathrow airport's terminal four in London. Image: REUTERS/Toby Melville/Files

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The US has the highest projected per capita spending on treating obesity of any OECD country.
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