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

By Author: Donald Saunders
Total Articles: 84
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Enquire of any experienced bariatric surgeon whether gastric bypass surgery reduces 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 have posed the question at all as surgeons have known for many years that weight loss surgery extends patients' lives.

However, put that same question to a range of insurance companies and you may well get a 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 two studies have clearly shown in numerical terms that gastric bypass surgery has a significant effect on the death rates of those concerned.

In the first, a multi-center United States study involving 16,000 patients followed over a 7 year period, long-term death rates dropped by as much as 40 percent. additionally a second Swedish study involving 4,000 patients showed a 29 percent fall in death rates.

For a long time now insurance companies ...
... have sought to put obstacles in front of patients to prevent them from submitting claims for weight loss surgery and this has been gaining momentum recently as the number of weight loss surgeries being carried out has risen dramatically and weight loss surgery has gained greater acceptance with a number of celebrities such as Star Jones, Carnie Wilson, Al Rocker and others undergoing obesity surgery.

Insurance companies have however 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 using exercise and diet, including if necessary the use of drugs, must be exhausted before weight loss surgery is considered. additionally, they have also stuck to the line that gastric bypass surgery should only finally be undertaken if the patient's weight poses a life-threatening risk.

For most people this stance by the insurance companies is seen as being totally stupid and a position which has clearly been adopted merely to save money. Like it or not, despite this point of view, the insurance companies have gotten away with this for many years now because it has not been possible 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 sufferers and an option which will not only improve their quality of life but literally extend their lives, frequently quite significantly.

For many years overweight people have fought with their weight and, although some have had very limited success, most people (and unquestionably those who are faced with losing in excess of about 80 pounds) have discovered that diet and exercise simply does not work. Despite this fact, they have not had a choice and doctors have also been forced to lead them down this road because of the stance of the insurance companies.

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