The value of medical and pharmaceutical interventions for reducing obesity

Pierre-Carl Michaud, Dana Goldman, Darius Lakdawalla, Yuhui Zheng and Adam H. Gailey

Journal of Health Economics, 2012, vol. 31, issue 4, 630-643

Abstract: This paper attempts to quantify the social, private, and public-finance values of reducing obesity through pharmaceutical and medical interventions. We find that the total social value of bariatric surgery is large for treated patients, with incremental social cost-effectiveness ratios typically under $10,000 per life-year saved. On the other hand, pharmaceutical interventions against obesity yield much less social value with incremental social cost-effectiveness ratios around $50,000. Our approach accounts for: competing risks to life expectancy; health care costs; and a variety of non-medical economic consequences (pensions, disability insurance, taxes, and earnings), which account for 20% of the total social cost of these treatments. On balance, bariatric surgery generates substantial private value for those treated, in the form of health and other economic consequences. The net public fiscal effects are modest, primarily because the size of the population eligible for treatment is small. The net social effect is large once improvements in life expectancy are taken into account.

Keywords: Obesity; Health spending; Ageing; Microsimulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I38 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Value of Medican and Pharmaceutical Interventions for Reducing Obesity (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:31:y:2012:i:4:p:630-643

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2012.04.006

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