The GP is presenting multiple studies in respectable journals. You'd have to show that the studies themselves are "massaging data" which you haven't attempted to do.
Obese men rack up an additional $1,152 a year in medical spending, especially for hospitalizations and prescription drugs, Cawley and Chad Meyerhoefer of Lehigh University reported in January in the Journal of Health Economics. Obese women account for an extra $3,613 a year. Using data from 9,852 men (average BMI: 28) and 13,837 women (average BMI: 27) ages 20 to 64, among whom 28 percent were obese, the researchers found even higher costs among the uninsured: annual medical spending for an obese person was $3,271 compared with $512 for the non-obese.”
Making the cost impact all the more troubling is the fact that, unlike smokers, obese people tend to live almost as long as those who keep their weight under control. "Smokers die early enough that they save Social Security, private pensions, and Medicare" trillions of dollars", said Duke's Eric Finkelstein. "But mortality isn't that much higher among the obese."
