The Market Failure Of Obesity

Market Failure of Obesity
Obesity is a major problem in the United States. Fatty foods in our society are viewed as cheap and convenient but these foods are costing the nation billions of dollars. According to the Center of Disease Control (CDC) more than one-third (34.9%) of adults in the United States are obese. The cost of obesity to the United states is estimated to be 147 billion dollars. The yearly medical bills for obese individuals is $1,429 higher than a person of normal weight in the United States. Obesity leads to various illnesses such as diabetes, heart attacks and can even cause death. Fatty foods and obesity produce many spillover cost for the government and society. Some of the spillover costs of obesity include; increased healthcare costs, loss of productivity, low self esteem, and wasted taxpayers dollars.
As a market failure, the obesity epidemic in America is costing the federal government billions of dollars annually. While most obesity prevention programs aim toward changing the rate of children who become obese, many fail, causing an inefficient allocation of government resources. Much of what 's already been done has proven to barely be a speed bump in the progression that is the obesity epidemic. Several solutions which can be explored to effective halt this progression. The taxation of certain unhealthy foods, government benefits and subsidies for organic produce farmers, and passing new legislation to regulate the amount of calories a fast food restaurant is allowed to serve you, just to name a few. These solutions, however, are only effective if they affect the lives of the majority of the population, therefore preventing obesity, whilst correctly allocating valuable government resources efficiently. ...

... middle of paper ...

...ich sets a standard for the quality of food that can be served at food establishments and grocery stores.The spill over effects coming from such solutions would negate the negative externalities created by fast food and obesity in the market. The entirety of the market of obesity is one completely funded and semi-regulated by the federal government. Only through the re-allocation of our governments resources, those being subsidies and grants, to a more prominent solution, will we see a decrease in the rates of obesity throughout the country. This will create a spillover effect which will in turn decrease the negative externalities insisted upon the average non-obese consumer and rest of the country. This negative externality, being the over abundance of obesity reversal programs, and reckless amounts of tax dollars being spent, has shown to be inefficient.