Lifetime Medical Costs of Obesity: Prevention No Cure for Increasing Health Expenditure

A recent Dutch study finds, lo and behold, that everybody dies of something - and those with a healthy lifestyle do so most expensively:

"Until age 56 y, annual health expenditure was highest for obese people. At older ages, smokers incurred higher costs. Because of differences in life expectancy, however, lifetime health expenditure was highest among healthy-living people and lowest for smokers. Obese individuals held an intermediate position."