Obesity Should Be Given Equal Weight In Essential Health Benefits, STOP Obesity Alliance Task Force Urges HHS

Wrong.

Obesity should not have a single penny put towards it when it comes to paying for it and the diseases of choice that follow.

"A major intent of the ACA is to control health care spending and increase access to necessary services for those who need it most," said Alliance Director Christine Ferguson, J.D. "With America's rising obesity rates leading to worsening health outcomes and equally alarming cost projections, leaving obesity unaddressed is both unsustainable and unacceptable."

At the core of the Task Force's recommendations is the tenet that obesity and weight-related interventions should receive the same consideration as any other health condition. The Task Force noted that while more research is needed, there are evidence-based obesity and obesity-related chronic disease prevention, treatment and management services available that could and should be covered as a way to stem the obesity epidemic.

Specifically, the recommendations propose that:
No obesity prevention, treatment or management services should be summarily excluded from the new essential health benefits package coverage requirements under the ACA;
All evidence-based preventive services be covered;
All preventive benefits be covered with no or reduced cost-sharing; and
All evidence-based treatments for obesity be covered with reasonable cost-sharing.

As long as rescue from this choice is offered, the problem will never go away.