Access Economics estimated the cost of obesity to Australia at $58.2 billion. And sure enough, this enormous headline number promptly headlined in the press.
On Dunsford’s analysis, however, the figures are flawed, skewed by the ”non-financial” estimates to make obesity seem a lot more costly to the taxpayer, in particular, the $49.9 billion in ”non-financial costs”.
These comprised ”burden of disease” numbers, calculated by working out ”years of life lost through disability and premature death” and Access came up with $6.35 million for the value of a statistical life (VSL) and $266,843 for the value of a statistical life year (VSLY).
