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Could Insurance Companies Be Set To Make Funding Available For Gastric Bypass Surgery?

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

However, put that same question to a range of insurance companies and you may well receive a very different answer because, until very recently, despite the fact that there has been a lot of anecdotal evidence for what everybody knows to be the case, there has not been any concrete, hard numerical proof.

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

In the first, a multi-center United States study involving 16,000 patients followed over a 7 year period, long-term mortality dropped by as much as 40 percent. additionally 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 prevent them from submitting claims for weight loss surgery and this movement has been gaining momentum in recent years as the number of obesity surgeries 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 strictly to the position that gastric bypass surgery ought only to be used as the option of last resort and that every possible attempt to lose weight through exercise and diet, including if necessary the use of drugs, must be exhausted before weight loss surgery is considered. additionally, they have also insisted that gastric bypass surgery should only finally be done if the patient's weight presents a risk to life.

For many people this position by the insurance companies is seen as being quite stupid and a position which they have clearly adopted simply to save money. Nevertheless, and despite this point of view, the insurance companies have gotten away with this for years now because it has been impossible to show 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, in many cases 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 unquestionably those who need to lose more than 80 pounds) have found that diet and exercise simply does not work. Despite this fact, they have not had a choice and doctors have been forced to lead patients 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 at long last put the needs of their policyholders ahead of those of their shareholders.