Archive for Sunday, February 3, 2008
Senator: Insurance should cover weight-loss surgery
February 3, 2008
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Frequence of surgeries
Weight-loss surgery
Drastic measures: weight loss surgery a life-saving step
As obesity has skyrocketed, so have the number of weight loss surgeries. It's a procedure that research shows is becoming less risky and can dramatically improve long-term health.
A letter from a 400-pound Wichita man convinced state Sen. Jim Barnett to conduct a hearing last month.
The man with sleep apnea, diabetes, congestive heart failure and arthritis wanted to undergo obesity surgery, but he couldn't convince his health insurance company to cover it. Without it, he likely was headed for premature death.
So Barnett, a physician and Republican from Emporia, wants legislators to consider whether health insurance companies should be mandated to cover weight-loss surgery.
"I think this is one option that works," Barnett said. "There is no other proven or effective therapy for obesity. This is proven, and this is effective. I think we should cover it."
But insurance companies would disagree.
For starters, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas spokesman Graham Bailey said it was an expensive procedure that still had a lot of complications.
And, Bailey said, the company has had almost no requests from its group insurers to have the surgery added as a benefit.
"Health care is expensive, and that makes health insurance expensive. We have to figure out a way to make it less expensive or more affordable. And adding things like that procedure to it just isn't going to do that," Bailey said.
According to Bailey, 100,000 people would qualify for the surgery in Kansas, which would add an additional $3 billion to health care costs.
Two years ago, the Kansas Health Policy Authority looked at the issue.
Deputy Director Andrew Allison said at that time, the literature pointed to varied outcomes with the best results coming from designated centers of excellence, which Kansas didn't have at that time. Also, programs lacked the education needed to change a patient's behavior after the surgery.
The recommendation was to not cover the surgery, but to promote weight-loss programs and healthy lifestyles.
Recent changes in medicine could alter the authority's stance. The introduction of laparoscopic surgery, which allows physicians to perform the procedure through small incisions, has reduced the number of complications. Three weight-loss surgery programs in Kansas have been named as centers of excellence.
"It appears the surgery itself has progressed and is emerging as a more accepted procedure for severe obesity than it was two years ago," Allison said.
Another option: gastric bypass
Tim Kolb has big plans: hiking the Grand Canyon, riding every roller coaster at Worlds of Fun, canoeing with his son and losing more than 200 pounds.
Two days after Christmas, the 38-year-old Chanute resident underwent the most common type of weight-loss surgery, the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, in Topeka. Essentially, Kolb's surgeon, Dr. Carlyle Dunshee, created a small stomach pouch, about the size of a golf ball, that connects to a y-shaped section of the small intestine. The procedure allows food to bypass the lower stomach and restricts how much Kolb can eat.
Weighing 470 pounds before the surgery, Kolb has already lost 55 pounds. After almost a month on a liquid diet, he is now making his way from pureed foods to solids.
"When I was doing my fast during Christmas, I would hear, 'How are you going to celebrate?' and 'Aren't you going to miss that?' " Kolb said. "I am like, 'Man, I have gorged and porked out for the last 37 years of my life, and I am willing to sacrifice that so I can be around for next Christmas.' You know, it is a totally different relationship with food."
Since the surgery, Kolb has reduced his medications from five to four and his Type 2 diabetes has disappeared.
Kolb's son wants him to lose weight so they can ride bicycles together.
"When you think you have been a good father, but you haven't done those little things, it kind of breaks your heart," Kolb said. "So I am looking forward to that stuff."
More like this
- Weight-loss surgery gains popularity September 25, 2005
- Weight-loss surgery OK'd under proposed change November 24, 2005
- Obesity surgery can help diabetes, researchers say October 13, 2004
- More patients trying risky obesity surgery December 1, 2003
- Studies: Weight-loss surgery leads to longer lives for obese people August 23, 2007
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3 February 2008
at 8:28 a.m.
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Drew_Carey (Anonymous) says…
I see LJW doesn't like any comments from others who have gone in for lap band surgery..that is if it's a BAD thing, losing someone $17,000..and then NO lapband after the surgery.
I wrote in, and it posted, then later, they showed it as “no comments on this article” LJW just wants this to be a rosey happay for all story. They don't want you to know you can pay the money, go in and come out with NO lap band. You're just screwed out of a lot of money..life savings.All I stated was pure fact and I can prove it. Don't do this surgery unless someone else is paying for it, you may come out having spent your earnings for NOT!
3 February 2008
at 8:33 a.m.
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armyguy (Anonymous) says…
Some insurance companies cover the procedure; my current government issued health plan covers it.
3 February 2008
at 8:47 a.m.
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Valkyrie_of_Reason (Kathy Getto) says…
Yet, we have many children whose families can't afford any type of insurance.
3 February 2008
at 8:53 a.m.
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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…
Uh, Drew, your problem is an occasional glitch in the software; there is no editiorial conspiracy.
I've had it hapen myself which is why I copy and save the body of the post before actually posting.
No one hates you except may a Gremlin in the software.
3 February 2008
at 9:09 a.m.
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miker (Anonymous) says…
Don't stare at the Golden Arches for a start !
3 February 2008
at 10:49 a.m.
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prospector (Anonymous) says…
This is what Drew Carey wrote:
Anonymous user
Drew_Carey (Anonymous) says:
I paid $17,000 at an Olathe weight loss surgical center (the one that shares the big bank building), to have a lap band put in. Met with doctor,exam, etc…. all was a go. Went into surgery all was fine. When I woke up after surgery, they told me that my liver was too large, and that they had been unable to complete the surgery. Simply because they couldn't access the stomach, (the liver is normally in front of the stomach). It wasn't a health risk, just a, “we couldn't get there easily”.
I was told that I could lose 25 lbs and come in and have the surgery again, and quote “Maybe they would have better luck”. I lost 20 lbs, but without any guarantee, I went into negoiations with them, and got $3 grand back, the price of the lap band itself.
Before all this, my doctor here in town told me, “If you don't get this lap band surgery, you're going to die!” And he went and got me a brochure for a place to get it done.
After the incomplete surgery, I was again at my regular doctor's for routine checkup. I told him about it. He told me HE had never had anyone go to that place before, he knew nothing about them….yet he sent me there!
I spent nearly all of my savings on this life saving surgery. And it didn't happen, and I was just screwed.
All I can say is..if you don't have insurance to cover it, you better think twice before spending what you need to live on to…stay alive. All I have to show for it, is an abdomen full of ugly scars. In the end I'm glad, I've watched too many be ill for the rest of their (so far) lives due to the reduced stomach.
PS, I have heard of a couple of other places in the KC area that do the same surgery for $14,000
=======================================
In other news, we can try to legislate it away:
“A bill that would force some Mississippians to back away from the buffet, or any restaurant, has begun its trip through the 2008 Legislature.
House Bill 282 would prohibit restaurants from serving food to anyone who is obese, based on criteria from the state Department of Health….”
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbc…
3 February 2008
at 12:25 p.m.
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Godot (Anonymous) says…
I am now convinced that the reason so many Republicans voted for Sebelius rather than Jim Barnett is because they realized Jim Barnett is more of a Democrat than Sebelius is.
If insurance companies are required to cover this surgery in order to do business in Kansas, they will leave the state.
3 February 2008
at 3:05 p.m.
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toefungus (Anonymous) says…
Godot, you figured out Barnett. He is a socialist.
3 February 2008
at 3:38 p.m.
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justthefacts (Anonymous) says…
To paraphrase the author Robert Heinline, “there must be some deep seated need in the human soul - that seeks to tell everyone else what to do.” If people want to live a certain way, freedom of choice allows it (unless it negatively impacts others). Asking society to pay the costs of care for someone who cannot help their condition is one thing. However, rather then forbid or require others to do anything, why not simply let people suffer the natural consequences of their own choices and conduct? If they cannot pay the price, or do what it takes, why should society pay the price for them? Forced charity rarely works in the long run.
3 February 2008
at 4:04 p.m.
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guesswho (Anonymous) says…
If insurers are forced to cover something, they will have to raise the rates of insurance to actuarially protect themselves against financial loss. This is not saying insurance companies are immoral or money-grubbing, they have to remain profitable.
I'm against this only because it is hypocritical that since the government refuses to provide health insurance for everyone, they should not be forcing companies to cover certain procedures.
3 February 2008
at 4:22 p.m.
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gogoplata (Anonymous) says…
The insurance companies can decide what they want to cover and you can choose which company you want to use. The senator doesn't need to be telling insurance companies what to do.
3 February 2008
at 5:14 p.m.
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dorothyhr (Dorothy Hoyt-Reed) says…
They told the companies to cover Viagra, but they gave them a choice about birth control pills. That made no sense whatsoever.
Drew Carey, was there any type of guarantee. Have you talked to a lawyer and recouping more money? They should have done xrays ahead of time to see if the liver was too big.
3 February 2008
at 7:19 p.m.
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Godot (Anonymous) says…
Look at the benefits you have for mental health. They are identical, regardless of which health insurance policy you get, through your employer or as an individual, unless your employer is “self-insured.”
The mental health benefits are woefully inadequate. The reason is that they were mandated by the Kansas legislature in the 80's, and they have not been indexed to inflation.
At the time the mandates were mandated, they were very generous; the result was that many health insurers left Kansas. As the years went by and the mandated benefits became less and less relevant due to inflation in mental health care costs, insurers viewed Kansas as a less restrictive market, and returned. That has left Kansans saddled with health insurance that, by law, has a mental health benefit that is worth only a month or two of treatment, certainly not enough to solve whatever problem one faces.
This is what happens when government mandates what insurance companies will cover.
Citizens should be allowed to choose the benefits they think are worth the price they are willing to pay; the government's role should be limited to oversight that the benefits promised are the same as the benefits provided, and that the companies making the promises can keep them.
4 February 2008
at 3:08 a.m.
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justtired (Anonymous) says…
i am in need of help losing weight.because of other health issues, i cannot diet like a normal person.this surgery would help me, but since my insurance won't cover it, i am forced to live as best i can.
22 April 2009
at 5:58 a.m.
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shri123 (Anonymous) says…
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.