Best's Review: Obesity Is Weighing on Workers' Compensation Costs

Business Wire, May 30, 2008

OLDWICK, N.J. -- Best's Review's June cover story "A Weighty Issue," reports how the increasing numbers of obese Americans is impacting the workplace and workers' compensation claims. According to the article, a Duke University Medical Center study found that obese workers filed twice the number of workers' compensation claims and had seven-times higher medical costs from those claims than did non-obese workers. This link between obesity and workers' compensation costs means maintaining a healthy weight is not only important for employees, but also for their employers, said Truls Ostbye, M.D., Duke professor of community and family medicine and one of the study's authors. Workers' compensation writers are addressing obesity and health issues in loss review presentations with clients. "Obesity is a real risk management issue," said Woody Dwyer, senior ergonomics consultant with Travelers. Hospitals are becoming the focal points for obesity-related injuries because medical workers must lift and move an increasing number of heavy patients.

Many employers are taking proactive steps to address their workers' weight issues by trying to make it convenient to live healthier lives while on the job, said Mike Lemrick, senior vice president of Managed Care Services at Cambridge Integrated Services. However, employers are more apt to focus on OSHA standards than on the issue of their employees' obesity, he said. "We need to take the stigma of it not being politically correct and somehow address it matter-of-factly. For any employer, their employees are their most valuable resource."

Try out a Best's Review Video Experience. Get the inside scoop by watching Best's Review's award-winning editors talk about their June stories at http://www.bestreview.com/videos.> June's Other HIGHLIGHTS:

-- Keep track of industry comings and goings with our annual Corporate Changes listing.

--Discover what's reviving long-term-care insurance sales.

--Look for the A.M. Best Global Catastrophes 2007 map in the June issue. This informative tool lists all of last year's insured and damage losses via a regional or worldwide view.

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