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Including Obesity Treatment in Health Insurance |
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- The AOA led the efforts to have Medicare remove language from its policy manual, which had declared that obesity was not an illness. This has opened the door for Medicare to evaluate obesity treatments and decide which ones to cover for the treatment of obesity.
- The AOA continually debates representatives of employers and insurers over the need for insurance coverage of obesity treatments.
- For several years, the AOA has lobbied Congress to include drugs for the treatment of obesity in the Medicare drug benefit legislation and will continue to do so.
- The AOA has led efforts in the state of Florida by developing a coalition Project OPERATE (Obese People Entitled to Reasonable, Affordable Treatments Equitably) of professionals and patients to counteract the elimination of insurance coverage of bariatric surgery by Florida insurers.
- An AOA brochure, Weight Management and Health Insurance, educates consumers in advocacy for insurance coverage. Two million copies of the print brochure are in distribution.
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