Uncle Sam Will Staple Your Stomach
Obesity is about to pass cigarette smoking as the number one killer in America. The cost that people who cannot control their weight place on the rest of us is increasing faster than you can say, "can I have the 2 Big Mac Extra Value Meal Supersized with a Coke." To give you some idea, Medicare is considering paying for a $30,000 surgery for people with the hopes that it will save money. Hum "Proud to be an American" by Lee Greenwood while you read this portion of the article.
Akron Beacon Journal
July 21, 2004
"A Medicare advisory commission will take the first step in November when it considers the effectiveness of stomach-bypass surgery, which has soared in popularity over the past five years.
More than 100,000 morbidly obese people had the surgery in 2003, up from 25,000 in 1998, according to the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.
Costing $30,000, the surgery is intended for people who are at least 100 pounds above their ideal body weight and who have failed at other attempts at weight loss.
Many insurance carriers have started to cover the procedure, finding it cheaper to pay for the surgery than long-term treatments of obesity-related health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure."
Akron Beacon Journal
July 21, 2004
"A Medicare advisory commission will take the first step in November when it considers the effectiveness of stomach-bypass surgery, which has soared in popularity over the past five years.
More than 100,000 morbidly obese people had the surgery in 2003, up from 25,000 in 1998, according to the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.
Costing $30,000, the surgery is intended for people who are at least 100 pounds above their ideal body weight and who have failed at other attempts at weight loss.
Many insurance carriers have started to cover the procedure, finding it cheaper to pay for the surgery than long-term treatments of obesity-related health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure."
By Kyle - 7/21/2004
1 Comments:
Despite being a big fan of Medicare, I think that this idea is sort of ridiculous. If it is ever implemented, as with every public benefit offered to American citizens, there will be a lot of people who abuse it, and is that worth the coverage? I have a friend from graduate school that attempted a very convincing thesis about the food industry's PR attempts to foil this "growing concern", and it was a load of crap. There's a small percentage out there who truly has a problem - everyone else is too lazy to work out. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to lunch for some Popeye's fried chicken and biscuits.
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