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Gastric Bypass Guide
Are Insurance Companies About To Ease Funding For Gastric Bypass Surgery?
Enquire of any experienced bariatric surgeon whether or not gastric bypass surgery lessens a patient's risk of premature death and he will tell you without hesitation that it certainly does. Indeed, he will almost certainly be surprised that you have asked the question at all since surgeons have known for years that weight loss surgery extends a patient's life.
However, put that same question to a number of insurance companies and you may well receive a very different answer because, until very recently, although there has been plenty of anecdotal evidence for what we all know to be the case, there has been no concrete, hard numerical proof.
Today however the results of 2 studies have clearly demonstrated in quantifiable terms that gastric bypass surgery has a significant effect on the death rates of those concerned.
In the first study, 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 some 4,000 patients demonstrated a 29 percent fall in death rates.
Insurance companies have sought for many years now to put obstacles in front of patients to stop them from claiming for weight loss surgery and this movement has been gaining momentum recently as the number of obesity surgeries being carried out has climbed dramatically and weight loss surgery has become more and more accepted with a number of celebrities such as Carnie Wilson, Al Rocker, Star Jones and others undergoing the procedure.
Insurance companies have however stuck rigidly to the position that gastric bypass surgery ought only to be used as the option of last resort and that all possible efforts to lose weight using 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 can only finally be carried out if weight poses a life-threatening risk.
For many people this stance by the insurance companies is seen as being quite stupid and a position which they have clearly adopted merely to save the insurance company money.
Like it or not, and despite this view, the insurance companies have gotten away with this for years now because it has not been possible 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 open to 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 people have battled with their weight and, while some people have had very limited success, most people (and undoubtedly those who are faced with losing more than 80 pounds) have found that diet and exercise 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 intransigence of the insurance companies.
Perhaps at long last the insurance companies will be forced to meet their responsibility in this area and at last put the needs of their policyholders above those of their shareholders.
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