Not only is obesity bad for you, it's expensive.  America's expanding waistlines will cost about $344-billion in medical expenses by 2018.

That's up from an already staggering $147-billion that obese people spent in 2008 on their healthcare.  "USA Today" says that by 2018, 1/5th of the country's healthcare costs will be used to fight diseases linked to obesity, up from about 9% today.  The numbers come from research at Emory University in Atlanta and are based on projections that in 10 years some 43% of us will be at least 30 pounds overweight.

Breaking the dollars down further, the Emory study found that an obese person will face an average of $8300 a year in medical bills.  That's $2,000 a year more on average than a normal-weight person.  In 2018, if projections hold true, Colorado will be the only state where at least 70% of its population keeps its waistline under control.  On the opposite end of the scale, half of the population of Oklahoma, Mississippi, Maryland, Kentucky, Ohio and South Dakota will be obese.
 


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