168.4 Billion per Year to treat Obesity?. About 16.5% of America's Medical Spending?.

Obesity is eating up the total medical and health care spending of US, a whopping 16.5% (168.4 Billion) just to treat Obesity alone?.   Ref: Cardiovascularbusiness.com 

Using instrumental variables (IV) to estimate the impact of obesity on medical costs, researchers found that the causal effect of obesity on medical expenditures is four times higher than when non-IV models are used, indicating that previous literature has underestimated the impact of obesity on medical costs, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper published this month. The report estimates the annual cost of treating obesity-related illnesses annually in the U.S. is $168.4 billion, or 16.5 percent of medical spending. Previous studies have underestimated this cost and reported that obesity is only responsible for 9.1 percent of medical spending.