Harber ML. Obesity is a Critically Important Health Issue. HRProfessionalsMagazine. https://hrprofessionalsmagazine.com/2021/03/30/obesity-is-a-critically-important-health-issue/. Published March 3, 2021.
Obesity can affect a person’s overall health and daily performance in negative ways by adding more health risks that contribute to other related medical issues, which use up needed financial resources due to high total healthcare costs. As a result, obesity is an important economic and clinical health concern for all aspects of our society, different communities across the Southeast, and especially for the many employers doing business in the Southeast.
Obesity in the United States continues to be a growing concern in all age levels as rates rise year after year. For employers, obesity and its comorbidities can be a burden to its health plan, to its employees, their engagement, and its organization’s health. Our recent efforts in working through the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the awareness of health risks, specifically metabolic health issues such as chronic weight management and obesity in general as areas of focus for health improvement. A few years ago, an expert made a statement that due to the obesity epidemic in our children, they would have a lower life expectancy than their parents. This is startling. Knowing that our children will live life with a chronic disease that could shorten their life. Employers who are including preventative obesity care and weight management programs within your employee health and wellbeing program can help to improve the overall health of the population and reduce the negative aspect of poor health. Employers can do the same within your employer-sponsored health plan as part of a comprehensive health management effort that can also reduce absence or improve productivity. Making sure you as an employer are able to promote what your plan offers in each part of the health risk reduction continuum is critical in the success of the efforts.
Read the full article here https://hrprofessionalsmagazine.com/2021/03/30/obesity-is-a-critically-important-health-issue/
