Are Insurance Companies About To Make Funding Available For Gastric Bypass Surgery?

Are the days of the insurance companies denying cover for weight loss surgery about to end?

Ask any bariatric surgeon whether or not gastric bypass surgery lowers a patient's risk of premature death and he will tell you without any hesitation that it does. Indeed, he will almost certainly be surprised that you are posing the question in the first place as surgeons have known for years that weight loss surgery extends patients' lives.

but, put that same question to a number of insurance companies and you may well receive a very different answer because, until now, in spite of the fact that there has been a lot of anecdotal evidence for what everybody knows to be the position, there has not been any concrete, hard numerical proof.

Today however the results of 2 studies have clearly demonstrated in numerical terms that gastric bypass surgery has a significant effect on the mortality of those concerned.

In the first, a multi-center American study involving 16,000 patients who were followed over a 7 year period, long-term mortality dropped by as much as 40 percent. At the same time a second Swedish study involving some 4,000 patients showed a 29 percent fall in mortality.

Insurance companies have sought for a long time now to put obstacles in the path of patients to stop them from submitting claims for weight loss surgery and this has been gaining momentum recently as the number of obesity operations being performed has climbed dramatically and weight loss surgery has become more and more accepted with a number of celebrities such as Star Jones, Carnie Wilson, Al Rocker and others undergoing bariatric surgery.

The insurance companies however have stuck rigidly to the position that gastric bypass surgery should only be used as a last resort and that all possible efforts to lose weight through exercise and diet, including if needed the use of medication, must be exhausted before weight loss surgery can be approved. additionally, they have also insisted that gastric bypass surgery may only finally be carried out if weight poses a risk to life.

For many people this stance by the insurance companies is seen as being totally stupid and a position which they have clearly adopted simply to save the insurance company money. Nevertheless, despite this point of view, the insurance companies have gotten away with this for years now because it has been impossible to demonstrate in terms of facts and figures that gastric bypass surgery is not just a convenient and relatively easy way to lose weight but is the only option for many obesity sufferers and an option that will not only improve their quality of life but literally extend their lives, frequently quite significantly.

For years overweight individuals have fought with their weight and, while some people have experienced very limited success, the vast majority of people (and certainly those who are faced with losing in excess of about 80 pounds) have discovered that exercise and diet simply does not work. However, they have had no choice and doctors have also been forced to lead them down this path because of the position of the insurance companies.

It is to be hoped that at long last the insurance companies are going to be forced to face up to their responsibility in this area and finally put the needs of their policyholders before those of their shareholders.

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