As people continue to put on weight so do healthcare costs climb. This would some to be the way it appears when you consider health care and health insurance. The short-term impact has already been shown by a popular documentary that shows the affect of too many super-sized meals. But whether or not you are aware of it, you are paying another price, in your health insurance costs, for the weight problem that the nation must deal with.

There have been significant rises in health insurance costs and rates of the past three years, increases in the double-digits. Analysts usually link this rise in insurance rates to the increase in the need for medical services. Why so much illness? The experts are pointing to increase in rates of obesity.

One a national social, over sixty percent of Americans today my labeled as being overweight or obese. Among children the rate has tripled in the last ten years. Such problems as heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, certain forms of cancer, and respiratory problems are linked with obesity. According to the Surgeon General's office the cost to the economy is in excess of $100 billion annually.

Insurance companies will even reject coverage of morbidly overweight individuals due to risks linked to being overweight. Or you may have to pay a larger premium to get coverage. As much as double a person of normal weight. In a group health plan through your employer the cost is passed on to the employer and/or the other employees who most pay greater co-payment costs.

But there are other factors that contribute to rate increases. Examples are increases in the cost of medications and greater use of expensive medical procedures and technologies. But the fact that most Americans are obese and contribute to greater medical costs, suggests a main factor in increasing health insurance rates.

What should be done about this problem of overweight? In the United States for example, it is projected that soon overweight will be a greater factor than smoking when it comes to preventing premature deaths. Government intervention and campaigns designed to promote non-smoking have put smoking on the decline. Similar approaches should be used for decreasing the rate of obesity.

It might also be necessary to more clearly define that there is a direct link between the cost of health insurance and the degree of obesity so as to put pressure on the government and public health authorities to assist in this campaign to reduce overweight in society. This might in turn encourage health insurance carriers to increase coverage for programs to reduce weight. Once we learn to link this problem to our own personal costs financially, steps will be more likely taken to remove it.

It is time to think about what we are eating. In the long run it affects our health. And we know that what relates to health also relates to personal expenses.