Does it cost $7,000 to join a gym?

The more you weigh, the less they pay. A new study finds that many overweight U.S. workers make less than their slimmer counterparts in the same jobs, in part to cover the costs of health insurance. As the price of health insurance has risen, the wage gap for obese workers more than tripled over a nine-year period, from $1 an hour to $3.40, a report by Jay Bhattacharya and M Kate Bundorf of the National Bureau of Economic Research reveals. That's more than $7,000 a year, which, all things being equal, could buy that employee a pretty good membership at the gym.