Did you Know?

Disease is expensive. The cost of treatment and the burden of untreated disease — in terms of both dollars and the human toll — is enormous.

Health care is expensive.

  • In 2000, Texas businesses spent $39 billion on health care.1

Obesity is expensive.

  • In 1994, the total cost of obesity to U.S. companies was estimated at $13 billion.2
  • Lost productivity due to obesity-attributable mortality cost $4.5 billion in Texas during 2001.3

Smoking-related disease is expensive.

  • Direct medical expenses and lost productivity for people with smoking-related diseases cost $157 billion each year or $3,856 per smoker.4
  • In 1999, tobacco-related disease cost Texas approximately $4.5 billion in direct medical costs and an additional $5.5 billion in lost worker productivity.5

Mental illness is expensive.

  • Depression’s annual toll on U.S. businesses amounts to about $70 billion in medical expenditures, lost productivity, and other costs.6
  • Thirty-four percent of Texas adults reported having poor mental health between one and 30 days in the past 30 days.7

Asthma is expensive.

  • Asthma is one of the leading causes of lost productivity and accounts for an estimated 3 million workdays lost each year in the United States.8
  • In 2003, over 1 million adults in Texas had asthma.9

In each case, disease is expensive — both in human terms and real dollars. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Prevention and wellness are cost-effective ways to reduce the burden of disease and ensure healthier outcomes for Texans.

Learn More

Changing the Health Care Paradigm: The Case for Investment in Worksite Wellness in Texas (.pdf)

  • [1] The Texas Association of Business, Employers & Health Care. 2002 Report: The Texas Health Insurance Crisis. Available at: http://www.txbiz.org/Gov_issues/health_care/Docs/SolutionsSummary.pdf. Accessed February 6, 2006.
  • [2] DHHS. Prevention Makes Common Cents: Estimated Economic Costs of Obesity to U.S. Business. 2003.
  • [3] Texas Department of State Health Services. The Burden Of Overweight and Obesity In Texas, 2000-2040. Available at: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/phn/pdf/Cost_Obesity_Report.pdf. Accessed: February 6, 2006.
  • [4] Center for Prevention and Health Services Issue Brief. Reducing the Burden of Smoking on Employee Health and Productivity. Volume 1, Number 5. Summary of information presented during a consultation with business and health leaders sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, May 28, 2003.
  • [5] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs (SAMMEC): Adult SAMMEC and Maternal and Child Health (MCH) SAMMEC Software. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sammec. Accessed February 6, 2006. Cited in Texas Department of State Health Services Fact Sheet.
  • [6] The Wall Street Journal. 2001. National Institute of Mental Health. 1999.
  • [7] Kaiser Family Foundation statehealthfacts.org citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data (BRFSS). 2004, unpublished data. Information about the BRFSS is available at: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/index.htm.
  • [8] New Developments in the Home Monitoring of Asthma Stahlman, JE, Salmun, LM. The Internet Journal of Family Practice, citing Weiss KB, Gergen PJ, Hodgson TA. An economic evaluation of asthma in the United States. N Engel J Med 1992;326:862.
  • [9] Kaiser Family Foundation statehealthfacts.org citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). 2003. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/asthma/brfss/03/brfssdata.htm. Accessed February 6, 2006.