Obesity continues to plague the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the goal of reducing adult obesity levels to 15 percent has gone unmet.

Instead, obesity rates have actually increased. The CDC says that obesity levels between 2007 and 2009 have risen 1.1 percent in adults over the age of 18.

The research findings based on a report from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System also shows that obesity levels are higher in southern regions and within certain ethnic groups. Non-Hispanic black women, for example, have a 41.9 percent obesity rate.

"Obesity is a complex problem that requires both personal and community action," said CDC division of nutrition director Dr. William Dietz. "People in all communities should be able to make healthy choices, but in order to make those choices there must be healthy choices to make. We need to change our communities into places where healthy eating and active living are the easiest path."

The financial implications obesity has to the health care system are staggering. America's Health Rankings estimates that $75 billion of public health money in 2003 went towards obesity-related conditions.

Under health care reform, adult children are allowed to stay on their parent's health insurance plan until the age of 26. The Employee Benefit Research Institute says that previous estimates of between 680,000 to 2.1 million young adults taking advantage may be incorrect.

The EBRI notes that it's not easy to estimate how many parents will decide to enroll their adult children onto their health insurance plan. They note that some individuals within the 19-25 year old age bracket that currently get their health insurance through another medium, such as Medicaid, may switch to their parent's plan.

"It is critical that group plans and insurers understand the size and characteristics of the 19 to 25-year-old population that might be eligible for their parents' health coverage in order to determine the impact that this provision of PPACA may have on enrollment and costs of employment-based coverage," wrote EBRI health research and education program director Paul Fronstin.

Young adults are are more likely than any other age group to go without health insurance. Government data shows that 39 percent of adults between the ages of 19 and 29 lack health insurance.