Are Insurance Companies At Long Last Meeting The Cost of Gastric Bypass Surgery

Ask any knowledgeable bariatric surgeon whether gastric bypass surgery lessens 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 have asked the question at all as surgeons have known for many years that weight loss surgery extends a patient’s life.

However, put this same question to a number of insurance companies and you could well receive a different answer because, until quite recently, in spite of the fact that there has been plenty of anecdotal evidence for what everyone knows to be the case, there has been no hard, concrete scientific proof.

Now however the results of 2 studies have clearly shown in quantifiable terms that weight loss surgery has a marked effect on the death rates of those concerned.

In the first study, a multi-center United States study involving 16,000 patients who were followed for 7 years, long-term death rates fell by as much as 40 percent. Additionally a second study in Sweden involving some 4,000 patients showed a 29 percent fall in death rates.

For many years now insurance companies have tried to put obstacles in front of patients to stop them from submitting claims for gastric bypass surgery and this has been gaining momentum recently as the number of obesity operations being performed has climbed dramatically and gastric bypass surgery has gained greater acceptance with a number of celebrities such as Al Rocker, Renee Williams, Star Jones and others undergoing bariatric surgery.

Insurance companies have however stuck strictly to the line that weight loss surgery should only be used as the option of last resort and that all possible efforts to lose weight using exercise and diet, including if necessary the use of medication, should be exhausted before gastric bypass surgery can be approved. In addition, they have also insisted that weight loss surgery may only finally be carried out if the patient’s weight poses a risk to life.

For most people this stance by the insurance companies is seen as being quite stupid and a position which has clearly been adopted merely to save the insurance company money. Like it or not, and despite this point of view, insurers have gotten away with this for many years now because it has not been possible to demonstrate in terms of facts and figures that weight loss surgery is not just a relatively easy and convenient way to lose weight but is the only option open to many 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, although some people have had very limited success, most people (and unquestionably those who are faced with losing in excess of about 80 pounds) have found that diet and exercise quite simply does not work. However, they have had no choice and doctors have also been forced to lead them down this road because of the stance of the insurance companies.

Perhaps at long last the insurance companies are going to be forced to meet their responsibility in this area and finally put the needs of their policyholders above those of their shareholders and start to meet some if not all of the cost of gastric bypass surgery.