Access and use of medical care among obese persons

The prevalence of obesity and severe obesity is growing rapidly, along with obesity-related comorbidities and mortality. Given the increased health ri sks associated with obesity, it is vital that obese persons have adequate a ccess to, and make consistent use of, medical care services. Assuming obese persons have access to medical care that is comparable to non-obese person s, one would expect to observe greater use of medical services among obese persons. In this article we briefly review empirical evidence of the access to and use of medical care among obese persons. Although certain subgroups that tend to have disproportionately high prevalences of obesity (i.e., lo w socioeconomic status, minority groups) have reduced access to care, no st udies have specifically examined whether or not obese persons have the same access to health care as do their lean counterparts. With respect to use o f health care services, however, obesity has been consistently linked with greater rates of utilization and increased health care expenditures. Both t he increased use and cost appear to be largely a function of treating obesi ty-associated comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension. We conclude that, although it is clear that obesity is associated with both greater use and cost of medical care, the relationship between obesity and access to m edical care has not been determined.