When it comes to workers’ comp, the real cost of obese employees
March 4, 2009 by Fred HosierPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Workers' comp, cost of safety
A new study has quantified what you may already have suspected: Obese employees can drive up a company’s workers’ comp costs.
Preliminary results of a study by NCCI show:
- Obese claims were roughly 3 times more expensive
- Added treatments related to obesity can balloon cost differences by as much as 30 times
- Workers who are morbidly obese (body mass index of 40 and above) filed 45% more claims, missed eight times the number of workdays and experienced medical costs that were more than five times higher when compared with non-obese workers.
These results are in line with previous research by Duke University.
So when companies are looking at return on their investment into wellness programs, reductions in workers’ comp costs should be included.
You can read more about NCCI’s research here (requires Acrobat Reader).
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March 9th, 2009 at 10:47 am
I worked at a company once that had an active wellness program that made games each quarter out of losing weight, logging exercise time, eating at least 5 servings of veggies a day, etc. We would reward the one who either lost the most weight, logged the most exercise time, or ate the most vegetables a day with gift certificates. One morbidly obese man at the company within a year lost 50 pounds! Granted, he needed to lose 100 more, but it was a start in the right direction, and we didn’t do it through bad means, such as intimidation.
But good luck to a company who thinks that they can get rid of obese workers. The ADA protects people for whom there is a perceived disability.
March 9th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Well, now that smokers have been singled out and vilified, it is now time for fat people. This article gives the impression that it is for “wellness” however it starts out with the self biased statement that the study just confirms what was suspected.
I guess we could do a study that shows older workers are more expensive on Workers Comp. We can also tend to look at minorities who do more physical labor, like Mexican migrant workers and show that minorities lead to more expensive injuries.
The study may have some validity. This article however, OFFENDS me!
A wellness program is good because MOST Americans are to sedentary and need to get some physical activity to improve health. To single out one group that already has a negative bias towards them in socienty to make this point is just plain wrong.
March 9th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Well it is about time people see what is really going on. I have been segregated out becouse i am a smoker. Suppositly obese people cost more than smokers in comp claims and missing time. This is a fact and has been out for years now. But no one wants to admit it. Because we may hurt peoples feelings. We live in a pc world now. I am getting sick and tiered of people telling smokers to smoke in certin areas every were you go and they can not stand the smell or what it is doing to there health. I would like to tell them, go drive down an interstate and stop at every refinery and tell them about the smoke in the air and the water they are pulluting. Now lets make an issue about obese people. Lets tell them they are fat and do not belong with others, as we do with smokers. Obese people accully cost three times the amount than smokers in health costs.
March 9th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Sorry Mike that you’re OFFENDED by an article which is just pointing out some things we need to know. The article was informative and to the point but I can’t see how you are OFFENDED other than you’re probably FAT.
March 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
The real problem is physicians who see an opportunity to use the Workers Comp system to run up their billing on these cases. Everyone seems to tiptoe around the fact that most physicians who treat WC injuries often prescribe tests and treatments that are completely unnecessary given the injury. I’m sure that if an employee is considered “obese” the physician treating them sees additional opportunity for money and that contributes to the study findings, but remains unmentioned. Just being obese does not necessarily mean that one is unhealthy.
March 9th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
I don’t usually write comments but MM needs a check. Smokers are not segregated to make your life harder for the heck of it. It’s not even about you! It’s about the people who don’t smoke and should not have to inhale your second hand smoke (which can help us get cancer). If I stand next to you often because you are my co-worker and you are smoking in a lunchroom or any where I am (public resturanunts also), then my chances of cancer are greater and I am not even the one smoking!!! If I stand next to an obese co-worker I am not going to increase my chances of cancer or anything else second hand smoke related.
The article was pretty accurate and it would be nice if these issues were not so previlant. No I am not obese, just being an adult and not calling each other fat! Play nice everyone!
March 9th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
MM - You said, “I am getting sick and tired of people telling smokers to smoke in certin areas every were you go and they can not stand the smell or what it is doing to there health”. You say this as though the non-smokers are being petty. ???? I am personally THRILLED that Ohio is a non-smoking state, and that I don’t have to worry about leaving a restaurant with my hair and my clothes reeking to high heaven because of someone else’s filthy addiction.
Smokers, along with obese people, are singled out because of the impact that they have on medical costs in general, as well as as W/C - because IT’S TRUE!
March 9th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
The data in these studies show that obesity causes more claim $$ than thinner workers, just as smokers cause more $$ on health claims. What’s the beef? Facts are facts, live with it, quit smoking, push away from the table. Smokers and fat people just can’t take the heat - both conditions (smoking and obesity) are CHOICES - except in a very small percentage of cases. Both types also cry victimhood whenever possible. I’m a business owner and want to save on my health plan or WC insurance - it’s my CHOICE to select whom I hire (and it won’t be smokers or fatties).
March 9th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Americans are obese because of the diet they’re subjected to, not just their lack of exercise. If you compare the ingredients label on a typical processed food you’ll find it has many ingredients in common with “finisher ration”, a feed given to hogs to fatten them prior to butchering. Fritos are an excellent candidate. Quality food is key to a healthy weight, but employers don’t want to pay employees enough to buy premium groceries. They also don’t seem to want to fork over the cash to include a gym in their facility. It’s just like day care, transportation, and everything else - employers are asking their workers to subsidize their operations by paying for their own “privilege” to work for them.
As for the segregation of smokers, the whole secondhand smoke argument is a loaded colostomy bag. I’ll observe your ‘right’ to breathe air sans my smoke, when you observe my right to breath air not corrupted by your car exhaust. Nobody who drives a motor vehicle has any grounds to complain about cigarette smokers.
March 9th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Larry says smoking and obesity are both choices. That is very true. Being a business owner is also a choice, and that is a group of people that cries “victim” more than smokers and heavies combined. It is juvenile and irrational to try to lay that much of a claim to power over people’s lives. You own a business on paper, but your success is created by society - we made the roads, we spend the money in your shop, we built the electric grid - and we allow you to keep a percentage of that transaction as profit for your trouble. But nothing sickens me more than a business owner who tries to weasel every penny he can out of his employees as if they were livestock. Cut health care costs? Sure! Axe wages? Sure! Make them work nights? Why not? I don’t have to! Let them provide their own day care, and transportation (so they can have to use cars) and pay them just enough to cover it all and have money left for inexpensive processed foods… so they can get fat and smoke cigarettes to shed the stress! Business owners are the penultimate whiners.
March 9th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
“Fatties”…really? Get a grip Larry.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:25 am
I’m sorry….should have used the term lard asses. And my grip is fine except when I try to weaken it to hit a high fade, sometimes I double cross myself and hit a hook.
All kidding aside, the business owner can and should make decisions as to whom he can hire as long as he doesn’t discriminate according to current law. “Size-challenged” (How’s that for PC?) and smokers are not included in current law unless you work for the government or in CA.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Nick: First of all, employers don’t want to build gyms on company facilities because they are opening themselves up for worker’s comp cases if an employee is injured on property, even if it is on their break time working with weights.
Secondly, you’re exposed to car exhaust on the roads, not in the office or the home. I know several non-smokers who have gotten lung cancer from second hand smoke. So you cannot equate car exhaust with second-hand smoke.
And since when do business owners need to provide an employee’s day care or transportation? All business owners need to do is provide a safe workplace for an employee to work, and to pay that employee an agreed upon wage. It is up to the employee to take care of his own needs. You need to quit looking to the government or your boss to take care of you. You need to take care of yourself.
March 10th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
NCCI and Duke need to get their heads out of their arses! They need a day job. I don’t believe a fat person’s injury would require more treatment than an average sized person’s injury. If you look at national statistics, more than 85% of American population is 20 lbs. overweight constituting obesity so technically, we’re all fat! Next, they’ll chose to investigate anorexic people. That group hasn’t been surveyed yet…they’re busy in the bathroom throwing up! I think I’ll join them….
March 11th, 2009 at 9:04 am
I hear you brother! We got some real hogs in this dump. They always break chairs and fall on the floor. They play hell on toilet seats. They block the aisle and make it impossible for normal people to pass. And I am sick of all the big butt pillows they all have on their chairs too!
March 12th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Sorry to not fall into your everyday conception of “Fatties”. I have never in me 39 years of work history filed a workers comp claim. The only times I ever missed work was for child birth, 3 ear operations and 1 carpal tunnel surgery (that I did not get from using a computer, do not own one at home - condition came about from physical activity - go figure) and perhaps a total of 5 days over the course of 39 years out with the flu. My blood pressure is slightly lower than perfect, my cholestral numbers are excellent, no diabeties. I walk regularly. Do I eat more than I should…yes, however I have never given anyone cancer with second hand smoke (do not smoke). I have NEVER been behind the wheel of a car under the influence of anything (including the High School years, walked or got a ride). I have been working for the same company for 27 years, I handle comp claims and am very proud of our employees for the low rate of accidents. But I do have to say, any claim filed was not by a single “obese” employee. So I guess we must beat all odds for being healthy and coordinated Fatties. And honestly I am a much happier person than the people I see worrying over every pound and being stricken with guilt because they “cheated”.
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:04 pm
I don’t believe this report either. As safety coordinator at my place of work my sense (and it’s just based on observation) is that obese folks are less likely to become injured on the job, if only because they are by their very nature unable to do some of the risky behaviors found in other employees. It seems the more svelte and athletic types (who also seem to be the younger folks) engage in much more risky behaviors than the more obese and on average older folks. Just my own personal observation. I also don’t agree that both smoking and obesity are choices. I think smoking is a choice one makes when they start..once they start I don’t think it is an easy habit to break. I think obesity is often the result of depression or other issues but also often caused by genetic predisposition. So I think it is less often a choice than smoking is. And I think in our society today it is even harder to break an eating habit. Look around you…nearly everyone who smokes gets vibes to stop from many quarters, but people who overeat only get encouragement to eat more. The workplace is smoke free but what’s the first thing you see when you go to the breakroom…a plate of donuts! Changing the environment and removing the temptation is the first major step in breaking any habit…fatties just can’t win. We all like to laugh at them but we keep “feeding” their addictions.
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Oh, why can’t we just all grow up and accept responsibility for our actions. I’m sure we can all agree that smoking or overeating are not the best thing for us. I do, and will take steps necessary to keep myself healthy and fit, and keep my medical insurance costs down. Face it, unhealthy lifestyles cost all of us lots of money.
When you smoke, I’m going to ask you to keep it to yourself, and if that means you have to go out to your car or outside, so be it. I don’t want to breath the poison crap that has been in your lungs, and is well documented to cause cancer and other diseases like COPD or emphysema. And if you choose to smoke, I believe you should pay extra for your insurance because you’re jacking up everyone else’s rates to take care of you when you are withering away from lung disease or cancer for years and years.
If you’re overweight, then again, you need to lose a few pounds for your own health. I was overweight, and I did what needed to be done to get myself down where I need to be. I eat healthy (and I don’t spend a fortune on food, I just pick the right stuff), and I exercise to stay fit. I don’t worry and fret over every pound or calorie, and if I gain a couple pounds after a fun weekend, who cares. What’s important is that I don’t do it every day, and I take an extra walk or do another set at the gym to burn that prime rib I had last night. How many trips to the doc will you make for ankle/leg/back pain because your weight exceeded your body’s capacity to carry it? You are shortening your own lifespan. I’m sure your kids want you to stick around to see the grandbabies graduate. Think about it - how many old obese people do you know? Take a trip through the nursing home. If they’re over about 65, they’re probably not overweight, and if they are, not by much. While weight usually doesn’t jack up my insurance, and honestly doesn’t affect me much, I’ll just be a friend and be honest with you. If you want to enjoy your retirement years, you better knock off the weight, and start living a healthier life.
August 18th, 2010 at 11:14 am
To all of those who label people as “fatties” etc. just wait your day will come. Obesity is just the latest buzz topic; smoking was, eating eggs was, there was a time when everyone knew their cholesterol number. The obesity craze will come and go like the others. As for this report, this is wrong, I am overweight but my visits to the doctor do not cost nearly as much as the “skinny” hypochondriac in the next cube. I visit the doctor when I need to; not to just get attention. I am not driving up anyone’s costs. I don’t miss any work; especially not because of my size. A medical condition from when I was 13 and a car accident contributed to my weight problem. I don’t sit and eat all day, in fact I don’t eat much which contributes to my slow metabolism, those that think that all an overweight person does is sit and eat is ignorant and unfortunately that is the majority of who has posted a comment here. Maybe tomorrow I should go get a chocolate sundae with my super-size burger that I can eat while teetering on two ladders with a board for a chair while enjoying my meal in the lab.