Ongoing care and lost days of work also add to the cost of the operation.

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She said the costs ranged from property damage to lost days at work and people not being able to visit shops and businesses in flooded areas.

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Obese workers filed twice the number of workers' compensation claims, had seven times higher medical costs from those claims and lost 13 times more days of work from work injury or illness than other workers, according to a Duke University Medical Center study of the health records of more than 11, 000 Duke University employees.

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An estimated 18 million days' work are lost each year as a result, the study found.

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And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care.

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"We've lost work to larger firms and like any small business, small architectural firms need a boost these days, " says Mr. Davidson, whose 15-year-old firm receives up to 70 federal contracts every year, mostly for renovations to U.S. Postal Service buildings.

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