Often media is reporting the rising cost of healthcare due to obesity.  An Emory university report predicts the obesity will cost about $344 billion dollars by 2018.  It will be up from today’s cost of 9.1% to about 21% of total healthcare spending.

So many have been fed up and have taken actions, granted some of these are not friendly or decent.  Some of  the things that have been tried, according to Orlando Sentinel, are:

• Lincoln University, Pennsylvania tried unsuccessfully to make weight reduction a necessity for graduation.
• Mississippi legislator tried pass law allowing restaurant owners to ban obese people from dining there.

Sentinel quotes Dr. Red Tuckson of of United Health group: “if public health officials, employers, and still slip americans channel their concern properly, it will have a positive effect.  There is no better example of what happens when public health takes on an issue than what we have seen happen with tobacco over the past decade.”

There are many companies offering weight reduction programs.  Those who try to follow the regimen seem to have better success.

The constant talk of need for losing weight might be having some impact.  CDC reports that the percentage of Americans who are obese have leveled off.  At this time 68 % of americans are fat and 33.8 percent are obese.

Bringing these numbers down will require personal responsibility and societal as well community support.