“The biggest loser” is not a television reality show, but the American health care system.USA today is reporting that costs have doubled in a decade, as a direct result of weight gain in Americans.

“As Congress searches for ways to control health care costs, a new report provides a sizable target: obesity. Americans who are 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight cost the country an estimated $147 billion in weight-related medical bills in 2008, double the amount a decade ago, according to a study by government scientists and the non-profit research group RTI International.

Obesity now accounts for 9.1% of all medical spending, up from 6.5% in 1998. Overall, an obese patient has $4,871 in medical bills a year compared with $3,442 for a patient at a healthy weight.”

Can you believe it? Unfortunately these facts are not surprising. Americans are the most obese people in the world, and each year the increase in obesity is horrific… see USA TODAY

But now we know that not only are we hurting our health and shortening our lives, we are also forcing health care costs to skyrocket.

Everyone has his or her own opinion on how to solve the health care crisis. But could it be as simple as choosing an apple over the curly fries? Lets try and find out. Picture courtesy of www.topnews.in/health/