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Are Insurance Companies About To Ease Funding For Gastric Bypass Surgery?
by Donald Saunders
but, put that same question to a number of insurance companies and you might well get a very different answer because, until now, in spite of the fact that there has been plenty of anecdotal evidence for what everybody knows to be the case, there has been no hard, concrete scientific proof.
Today however the results of two studies have clearly shown in quantifiable terms that gastric bypass surgery has a significant effect on the mortality of those concerned.
In the first study, a multi-center American study involving 16,000 patients who were followed over a 7 year period, long-term mortality fell by as much as 40 percent. At the same time a second Swedish study involving 4,000 patients showed a 29 percent fall in mortality.
Insurance companies have sought for many years now to put obstacles in the path of patients to prevent them from claiming for weight loss surgery and this movement has been gaining momentum in recent years as the number of weight loss surgeries being undertaken has risen dramatically and weight loss surgery has become more and more accepted with a number of celebrities such as Star Jones, Carnie Wilson, Al Rocker and others undergoing the procedure.
Insurance companies have however stuck strictly to the line that gastric bypass surgery ought only to be used as a last resort and that all possible efforts to lose weight through exercise and diet, including if needed the use of drugs, should be exhausted before weight loss surgery is considered. additionally, they have also insisted that gastric bypass surgery can only finally be done if the patients weight presents a life-threatening risk.
For the majority of people this stance by the insurance companies is seen as being totally stupid and a position which they have clearly adopted merely to save money. Like it or not, despite this point of view, the insurance companies have been able to get away with this for many years now because it has been impossible to show 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 for many sufferers and an option that will not only improve their quality of life but literally extend their lives, in many cases quite significantly.
For many years overweight individuals have battled with their weight and, although some people have had very limited success, the vast majority of people (and unquestionably those who need to lose more than 80 pounds) have discovered that diet and exercise simply does not work. Despite this fact, they have not had a choice and doctors have also been forced to lead patients down this road because of the stance of the insurance companies.
It is to be hoped that at long last the insurance companies are going to 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.
GastricBypassFacts.info provides considerable information on gastric bypass surgery including details of the cost of gastric bypass surgery
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