Are Insurance Companies About To Ease Funding For Gastric Bypass Surgery?

Enquire of any experienced bariatric surgeon whether gastric bypass surgery lowers a patient's risk of premature death and he will tell you without hesitation that it does. Indeed, he will undoubtedly be surprised that you are asking the question in the first place since 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 different answer because, until very recently, in spite of the fact that there has been a lot of anecdotal evidence for what we all know to be the case, there has not been any hard, concrete numerical proof.

Now 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 study, a multi-center United States study involving 16,000 patients followed for 7 years, long-term death rates fell by as much as 40 percent. At the same time a second Swedish study involving 4,000 patients demonstrated a 29 percent fall in death rates.

Insurance companies have sought for a long time now to put obstacles in the way 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 weight loss surgeries being carried out has climbed dramatically and weight loss surgery has gained greater acceptance with a number of celebrities such as Al Rocker, Carnie Wilson, Star Jones and others undergoing obesity surgery.

The insurance companies however have stuck rigidly to the position that gastric bypass surgery should only 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, should be exhausted before weight loss surgery can be approved. In addition, they have also stuck to the line that gastric bypass surgery should only finally be carried out if weight presents a risk to life.

For most people this position by the insurance companies is seen as being totally stupid and a position which they have clearly adopted simply to save money. Nevertheless, and despite this 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 simply a convenient and relatively easy way to lose weight but is the only option open to many obesity sufferers and an option which will not only improve their quality of life but literally extend their lives, often quite significantly.

For years now overweight people have fought with their weight and, while some people have experienced very limited success, most people (and certainly those who are faced with losing more than 80 pounds) have discovered that diet and exercise simply does not work. However, they have not had a choice and doctors have been forced to lead them down this road because of the stance of the insurance companies.

Perhaps now at long last the insurance companies will be forced to face up to their responsibility in this area and at last put the needs of their policyholders ahead of those of their shareholders.

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