Advertise Your Banner Here

January 22, 2002
Clintons' Bitter Legacy: Book Predicted Attacks, Economic Slump
 
Director Altman: 'Americans Are Full of It!'

Ashcroft Faces Quandry Over Clinton Scandal Secrets

A Sad Anniversary

Far Left 'Nation' Magazine Just Can't Get It Right

Brando Furious at New Book

Von Hoffman: TV Media Biased and Inept

Limbaugh: I Can Finally Hear My Own Show

Brooklyn Borough Prez: Ground Zero Firemen Statue Will Be Authentic

N.Y.C. Official: Thomas Jefferson Was a 'Pedophile'

Rumsfeld Slams Clinton Military Cutbacks

Powell and Rumsfeld Mum on China Plane Bugging Charge

More Inside Cover Stories


War on Terrorism

Enron

Bioterrorism

Al-Qaeda

Saddam Hussein/Iraq

Homeland/Civil Defense

Middle East

Israel

Media Bias

Immigration/
Borders


Bush Administration

Clinton Scandals

Health Issues

Russia

China/Taiwan

Latin America

United Nations

Castro/Cuba

North Korea

Guns/Gun Control

Missile Defense

Great Speeches

Sen. Hillary Clinton

Janet Reno

Elizabeth Dole

California Governor's Race

Panama Canal

Hanssen Spy Case

NewsMax.com Company News

Cooled-off Hot Topics

 Home Columnists Late-Night Jokes Archives Cartoons
 News Alerts U.S. News Links PriorityGrams Int'l  News Links MoneyNews
 Contact Us NewsMax StoreClassifiedsGet Your Site Listed
 
Feds Mull Obesity as 'Disease' � You'll Pay Billions
Phil Brennan, NewsMax.com
Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2002
Medicare officials, egged on by members of the anti-obesity industry, are considering adding being overweight to the list of diseases covered by insurance and Medicare � a move that could cost Americans billions.

The nation's leading obesity organizations are pushing for such a step, claiming that obesity is a disease that requires medical attention and should be covered by insurance, HMOs, Medicare and Medicaid, USA Today reported Monday.

More overweight people would seek medical assistance if obesity were covered, the groups insist, and losing as little as 5 percent of one's weight reduces blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels. This, they claim, might well save health care costs in the long run.

Medicare officials are "expected to announce within the next couple of weeks whether to classify obesity as a disease for the program," the newspaper revealed. Current regulations state that "obesity itself cannot be considered an illness," and as a result, Medicare usually doesn't cover treatments for it.

Adding obesity to the list of covered disorders would not automatically mean that Medicare will start paying for treatments, but it does leave an opening for more discussions at national and state levels, experts say.

Being overweight is a health risk that can cause heart disease and a host of other disorders and should be regarded as a disease requiring medical treatment, advocates of the new classification say.

If obesity isn't covered, "people will continue to get bigger and sicker," Charles Billington, associate director of the Minnesota Obesity Center in Minneapolis, told USA Today.

But classifying obesity as a disease would mean that the cost of medical care and insurance � and the taxes that pay for such federal programs as Medicare � would also get bigger and bigger, experts say.

About 26 percent, or about 54 million adults, are obese: at least 30 pounds over what is considered healthy. About 300,000 deaths a year are attributed to obesity.

The Voluntary 'Disease'

But some experts wonder if those facts justify ballooning medical, insurance and tax costs. They argue that being overweight is a matter of choice due to poor exercise and eating habits that can't be blamed on a disease. And, they add, treating obesity as a disease would be incredibly expensive and boost insurance premiums and other health costs for companies and individuals.

Moreover, even if people do lose weight under costly medical supervision, experience shows there is no guarantee they'll keep it off.

"Historically, insurance companies have looked at obesity as a condition that an individual should be able to manage through modifying their own eating habits and increased exercise," Frank Apgar, senior medical director of care management for Blue Shield of California, told USA Today.

"Does one really need a doctor to accomplish these goals?" If so, "should the individual pay for this, or is it something your insurance company should pay for, i.e., all of us?" he told USA Today's Nanci Hellmich.

According to advocates of the new classification, the answer is clearly "yes."

"Obesity is the engine that is driving a lot of diseases - heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, arthritis," said Morgan Downey, executive director of the American Obesity Association. "We're paying for those diseases, but not contributing nearly enough to deal with the underlying cause, and that just doesn't make sense."

How much would adding obesity to the list of covered diseases cost? USA Today estimated part of the price tag:

Diagnosis: Overeating, Underexercising

  • Just one physician visit a year by 25 percent of the 54 million obese Americans would cost more than $810 million, based on a doctor visit charge of $60.

  • If those same people took a year-long basic nutrition/behavior modification treatment program at an estimated cost of $450 a person, it would tally $6.1 billion.

  • Prescription diet medication could cost as much as $5.2 billion if just 10 percent of obese people went on a weight-loss drug for a year, at a cost of $80 a month.

  • If 100,000 severely obese people had gastric bypass surgery, which creates a much smaller stomach and rearranges the intestine, at a cost of about $24,000 a surgery, it would tally $2.4 billion. (There are already an estimated 56,000 surgeries a year; some are covered by insurance.)

    Would all this increased spending really help solve America's obesity problem? "Numerous studies on everything from prescription diet medication to behavior modification show that dedicated dieters lose about 10% of their weight in three to six months," the newspaper explained.

    "For many people, that translates to about 20 pounds or so. Then the weight loss seems to slow down or halt. Some people are able to lose and keep off more, but not everybody loses weight, and a number who do are unable to keep it off."

    Given those uncertainties, would it be wise to go on a new spending binge to deal with obesity? Would such a program be worth the multibillion-dollar price tag?

    Reporter Hellmich wrote that studies are looking at whether treating obesity is cost-effective, that is, would it reduce the cost of treating the illnesses associated with being overweight.

    In the final analysis, Apgar said, "it's a matter of allocating how you are going to use your health care resources."

    As always, "The cost is going to come back to the consumer," he said.

    That's you and me.

    As a regular reader wrote to NewsMax: "Well, years ago we said 'Guns cause crime like large spoons cause Rosie O'Donnells.' Now we have the 'out-of-control spoon in the pie-hole' syndrome. It was preordained. We're not surprised."

    Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

    Health Issues

    A product that might interest you:
    Have an Opinion About This? Send an URGENT PriorityGram Today

    Back



  • Ruddy:
      Big Victory for NewsMax
    Limbacher
    Michael Savage:
      Sign up for Michael's FREE E-mails!
    Wilson Lucom
    George Putnam:
      'One Reporter's Opinion'
    Hirsen:
      HBO Lewinsky
    Smith - CyberWar:
      Spying on America
    Frisa
    Bill O'Reilly:
      In the Magazine!
    Alden
    Perry:
      CNN: Prisoner of Its Own Mirrors
    Michael Reagan:
      In the Magazine!
    Malzberg:
      Sign Up for Steve's FREE E-mails!
    Irvine:
      Plagiarism Double Standard
    Limbaugh:
      In the Magazine!
    Lunev:
      U.S. Must Keep Nuclear Deterrent
    Farber
    Boortz:
      Sympathy for Terrorist Prisoners
    Gallagher:
      Sign Up for Mike's FREE E-mails!
    Madison
    Jack Wheeler:
      The Suicidal Liberal Mind

    Ivins
    Novak
    Elder
    Irvine
    Williams
    Snow
    Sowell
    Cockburn
    Chavez
    Roberts
    Weyrich
    Bowles
    Feder
    Liebmann
    Farrell
    Brown
    North
    Bozell

    More Columnists

    E-Mail News Alerts

    Sign-up for your FREE e-mail news alerts from NewsMax.com


    Your e-mail address will be used for News Alerts only.
    No spamming or sharing e-mail address with others.


    NewsMax Store
    News & Political Products

    Magazines
    All at super discounts!


    Click Here


    Click Here


    Click Here


    Click Here

    HomeContact UsFinancial News � Late Night Jokes �  Article ArchivesEmployment Ops.

    NewsMax.com Privacy Statement

    All Rights Reserved � NewsMax.com