WATCH: Obesity rates rising; cost of care to increase, study says

In the study released Wednesday, 23 states saw adult obesity rates rise since 2008, and the report showed that treating obesity costs everyone financially.

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KVUE's Jim Bergamo reports

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It's no secret many Texans, along with other Americans don't always eat healthy. The combination of poor diet and lack of exercise are two reasons why adult obesity rates did not decrease significantly in a single state over the past year according to the report from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The report found the adult obesity rate is 27.9 percent in Texas -- the 14th highest in the nation. The rate of overweight and obese children in Texas is higher -- 32.2 percent. the rate remains consistent from 2008.

"We're not surprised, but I think we're surprised at how fast its happening and the amount of obesity that's going up in a state is alarming," said James Hahn, family practice physician.

Hahn says medical technology is allowing obese patients to live longer. However...

"As people live longer they have to deal with medical problems as they get older," Hahn said.

Doctors say problems like arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and sleep apnea can all be brought on by obesity.

"Twenty percent of our annual GDP is dedicated to healthcare, and the vast majority of it goes to these five diseases that have the number one association with obesity. So it's tremendous," said Sashi Ganta, bariatric surgeon.

Ganta performs Lap Band and gastric bypass procedures on obese patients. He says studies show if left untreated, obesity and the illnesses associated with it, end up costing us all -- to the tune of several billion dollars a year.

"On average, an obese patient spends more time in the hospital, more time in doctors visits, they utilize more resources for their medications and testing; therefore, it's a direct drain on the health care system," Ganta said.

While the nation has long been bracing for a surge in Medicare as the boomers start turning 65, the new report makes clear that fat, not just age, will fuel much of those bills. In every state, the rate of obesity is higher among 55- to 64-year-olds - the oldest boomers - than among today's 65-and-beyond.

The report provides one of the first in-depth looks at obese boomers, and its implications are sobering. This first wave of aging boomers will mean a jump of obese Medicare patients that ranges from 5.2 percent in New York to a high of 16.3 percent in Alabama, the report concluded. In Alabama, nearly 39 percent of the oldest boomers are obese.

Health economists once made the harsh financial calculation that the obese would save money by dying sooner. But more recent research instead suggests that better treatments are keeping them alive nearly as long - but they're much sicker for longer, requiring such costly interventions as knee replacements and diabetes care and dialysis. Medicare spends anywhere from $1,400 to $6,000 more annually on health care for an obese senior than for the non-obese, said Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust, a nonprofit public health group.

"There isn't a magic bullet. We don't have a pill for it," said Levi. "It's not going to be solved in the doctor's office but in the community, where we change norms."

His group is pushing for health reform legislation to include community-level programs that help people make healthier choices - like building sidewalks so people can walk their neighborhoods instead of drive, and providing healthier school lunches to help fight the childhood obesity that turns into adult obesity. The pending House and Senate bills address obesity in different ways; one provision would particularly target baby boomers.

Many states have begun programs to try to tackle obesity, and there are hints of improvements, Marks said.

"We're still getting fatter, but maybe a little more slowly than before," he said: Last year's report found obesity rates rising in 37 states compared with 23 this time around.

He's encouraged that 19 states have implemented nutritional standards for school meals that are stricter than the federal government's; in 2004, just four states did. Some are requiring nutritional information for restaurant food, he added.

States "recognize the solutions will lie outside traditional medical care," Marks said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has long said that nearly a third of Americans are obese.