Obesity Action Coalition: A Plea to Insurers and Employers

The Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) issued a plea yesterday to both insurers and employers asking that they increase availability of treatment for the deadly disease of obesity and morbid obesity. The request comes after the recent publication of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) that indicated a strong link between obesity interventions and reduced mortality rates.

The epidemic of obesity is growing in rampant proportions with one in four Americans affected by this disease. There are more than ninety-three million Americans as of now with that number expected to reach 120 million over the next five years. The causes of obesity are numerous and complex and can be direct factors and indirect ones. Obesity is the result of an energy imbalance that occurs over a long period of time. An energy imbalance within obese individuals can be caused several different ways with the three main culprits; behavior, environment, and genetics.

There are many who do not recognize obesity as a disease. The OAC works diligently to address this issue and this serious health epidemic by being an advocate that educates and promotes the increase of prevention methods and making safe treatment actions more readily available. These safe treatment options include; nutrition counseling; supervised weight-loss by a physician with or without the aid of medication; and of bariatric surgery for qualified candidates.

One of the studies led by Ted D. Adams, PhD and MPH indicated extraordinary results. It is one of the first-ever studies that has proven that deliberate weight-loss can lead to living better and longer. After experiencing bariatric surgery, the incidence of death by cancer, heart disease, and diabetes were drastically reduced.