It’s Time to Change the Way We Treat Obesity and Provide Access to Care

We need an operation warp speed for obesity medicine. Healthcare systems, insurers, and employers are still falling short on our mission of radically changing what obesity looks like in the U.S. and providing access to the full suite of effective obesity treatment interventions, including medications that are proven to help patients manage their condition. We understand how to treat obesity, and we have a more comprehensive array of tools than ever before to improve patient outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and truly tackle the epidemic head-on. It’s time that we commit to utilizing all the tools available and ensure patients have access to the most effective solutions to treat obesity.

For over a decade now, the healthcare community has recognized obesity as a chronic, relapsing disease. Since the American Medical Association (AMA) recognized obesity as a disease in 2013, researchers have continued to provide evidence that demonstrates the need to treat obesity as a chronic condition just as we do diabetes, cancer, or any other complex disease. Harvard Medical School, the Cleveland Clinic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are all among the institutions that have recognized obesity as a complex disease. The tide is shifting on how health insurance plans, employers, and governments manage coverage of treatment interventions for obesity as a result.

The way we treat and manage obesity has evolved significantly over the past 25 years. We’ve changed the ways we talk about obesity to frame it as a medical condition and reduce stigma for patients. Groundbreaking developments in pharmacological R&D efforts have brought innovative GLP-1 medications from the lab to patients to treat obesity and related conditions. Reporting from clinical trials shows that more than 300 GLP-1R medications are in development, and sixteen additional obesity medications are predicted to launch over the next five years.

While we’ve seen significant innovation in anti-obesity medications as we’ve developed a better understanding of the disease, insurance coverage mandates continue to lag behind the science. Most state employee health plans fail to cover FDA-approved obesity medications, and 27 state health exchanges exclude coverage for metabolic and bariatric surgery. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) research showed that Medicaid programs in only 13 states provide coverage for innovative obesity medications for patients receiving obesity treatment. And the Trump Administration this April decided not to move forward with a proposal to provide coverage for obesity medications in Medicare and Medicaid.

The Obesity Medicine Association (OMA) recommends that patients with obesity have access to evidence-based comprehensive obesity care, which includes FDA-approved obesity medications. Yet outdated Medicare and Medicaid coverage policies and high out-of-pocket costs for commercially insured patients make it difficult for many Americans to access these innovative therapies. Insurers and employers providing insurance to their employees may inaccurately consider weight loss as a cosmetic need rather than a medical one, or consider the cost of treatment too high for the benefit. We need to spend money to save money, and much more data is coming forth showing the value of obesity treatment. One of the many evidence points for treating obesity is the clear link between obesity and cardiovascular and other related diseases. For example, data on Wegovy shows that it offers cardiovascular benefits. Further research shows that treating obesity helps to prevent diabetes and heart disease.

I’ve had years of personal and professional experience seeing the impact of obesity and know how complex this disease truly is and how much of a toll it can take on patients and their loved ones. We have the ability and knowledge to treat obesity. To move to the next era of treatment and care for patients, we need to continue to recognize obesity as a disease and ensure patients have adequate access to the best possible care for their condition.