weight loss and insurance companies

Frequently we receive telephone calls from prospective new patients asking more details about our weight loss program. One of the questions that usually arises is: "Does insurance cover the program?" The answer is that most commercial insurance companies do not recognize a weekly followup weihgt loss program as a covered benefit. When you think about this, it is bordering on the absurd. The same insurance companies will cover prescription medications for all the disease states linked to weight problems (hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, hypercholesterolemia, etc.), hospitalizations due to the sequelae of long standing obesity (joint replacements, heart procedures, vascular surgeries, etc) and many medical visits for follow-up of the above mentioned illnesses linked to weight problems.

In the aggregate, insurance companies would save an incredible amount of money if they in fact did emphasize more preventative types of expenditures as opposed to treating the ramifications of "correctable" risk factors. Most insurance companies will point out that they have resources such as advice nurses, written literature about smoking cessation and dieting, etc. However, intervention on these major risk factors requires more aggressivenesss.

At every turn, it seems that health insurance companies will do everything possible to improve their bottom lines...hiring minimum wage workers to deny your claims, holding payments back from physicians if the "i' is not dotted or "t" not crossed, restricting their "preferred" medications, etc. However one "etc" that would save them lots of money in the long run would be recognizing weight loss programs as esential for the long term health of their subscribers.