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Medical costs for obesity could have been as high as $147 billion in 2008, according to a recent study in Health Affairs, a health-policy journal.
The study found medical costs of obesity in 1998 were $78.5 billion, with approximately half financed by Medicare and Medicaid. The cost rose by almost $40 billion by 2006, and, though the data has not been analyzed yet, researchers believe it continued to rise into 2008.
Specific causes for the increase in spending were not stated.
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