Canada has been struggling to keep up with a significant increase in obesity related illnesses in recent years. This problem is causing a great deal of financial strain on the healthcare system that was nationalized some decades ago therein. Recent information as of 2008 indicates that roughly 4.2 million Canadian adults are now obese. This is over 17% of the entire population residing in Canada, and represents a serious public health risk. Many people are thinking about weight loss surgery to tackle these problems, but there are many risks to this sort of treatment. Even if Canada’s obesity rate is about half the US’s by proportion to their population, it’s still a serious problem that’s harming their healthcare system and straining their resources. Many provincial governments, however, are now offering to cover weight loss surgeries (such as bariatric treatments) in the hopes it will help people control their weight gain.
Most provinces of Canada, for example, think of obesity as a disease. Treatment for obesity, as a natural result, is going to be considered to be a necessary thing to treat patients. Things such as lap band surgery or gastric bypass are very common and typically covered by insurance as mandatory by the health system. Not every single location will cover these treatments, and these methods are not always the most reliable at producing significant bodily changes that last. Research on patient outcomes years after such surgeries are not universally positive. Many people actually (well over 70%) fail to even achieve long term success even after such an expensive and dangerous procedure. Still, this does offer one of the more effective long term weight loss treatments, though it is very invasive and costly.
Insurance and Medicare Payments for Obesity Surgery
When and if your insurance, or Medicare wind up paying for your surgery, you will often be waiting a long time to get into your doctor to have it done. It can even take several years before a doctor has time to do so. In Canada, this is a serious problem, much worse than state side. The Ministry of Health in Ontario for example will pay for gastric bypass, but tries to actually send them to private weight loss facilities instead to cut down on backlogs. It’s not always possible to do this and varies considerably. In the USA, typically you can choose your doctor (so long as he’s willing to accept government issued insurances) and they will complete the surgery. Most private insurance policies in the USA do not cover obesity related surgeries, though in some circumstances they do. Demand for this procedure is high, and only specialists are able to do it, so typically the costs out of pocket can run into the tens of thousands.
Today more than ever in history, obesity is impacting our nations and our livelihoods. If you want to go the weight loss surgery route, you will often find support from insurance, the government or otherwise. However, do realize that this isn’t just a quick fix, you need to make real wholesale changes in your diet as well. Many people who go through these surgeries fail to achieve long term weight loss results. It may seem incredible that someone could reduce the size of their stomach by 95% and still gain weight, but it’s possible if people force themselves to eat foods that are poor quality and unhealthy. The goal here is to cut down on your hunger so that you can sustain a healthier lifestyle. This is a drastic step as well, you should try other proven obesity treatments as often as possible prior to diving into something invasive like lap band surgery. It’s very important to consider all of your options and start out with other proven methods like HCG or Garcinia or similar first.