Question for thought....

[anm1063 24]

Now that the AMA has declared obesity a disease, do you think that more insurances will cover weight loss surgery and the ones that already do, they will cover a higher percentage? I am also wondering if WLS will become the standard treatment for obesity, as opposed to years of failed dieting, pills, and exercising. Maybe this "official" title of disease will help the obesity epidemic and bring more awareness to the situation.

[deaddemmama 474]

I think you're probably right. It's interesting to me that some insurance plans will pay for the deleterious effects of obesity before they pay for wls.

[riisey007 10]

I would hope so but it seems that the insurance companies are faced with so many revisions as well. I have seen on so many forums,Obesity help, face book groups etc, that so many people are having revisions, so many people gaining all their weight back, etc. That can't be good as far as insurance goes. I would think if they all or the majority start to pay for it then it will most likely mean stricter guidelines and perhaps lesser coverage money wise. I was talking to a pharmacy friend the other week and she was saying how weight loss surgery really helped her sister but that her sister is back to her old ways and eating like crazy. She is still very proactive and is fighting for my company to cover bariatric surgery in both plans that they carry. I have also seen where people have made a decision to get lap bands but were not seeing the results they expected. If insurance ends up paying double for surgery and revisions it may not put us in a good place. I am a medical professional, I see people that have insurance pay for home cpap's, bipap's etc and then when I ask if they are wearing them they say no and I say why ? they say, I don't like it. These type of things are what will make insurance purse strings even tighter. I truly hope though that it does not become prejudiced for those of us who need the surgery now and for those in the future. I want everyone to have the chance to live a healthier life, reach their goals and maintain them. I wonder if some people go into the surgery thinking the surgery is the answer instead of a tool, this may be the issue. I have already mapped everything out and started buying equipment her and there for my "no excuses" campaign because I don't want to hear NO excuses from me when the time comes.