Obesity Association Calls for Congressional Investigation
of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida

Washington, DC, September 16, 2004 — In testimony yesterday to the House of Representatives’ Committee on Government Reform, the American Obesity Association (AOA) called on Congress to immediately launch an investigation into Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida and other insurers’ decisions to eliminate coverage of surgery for persons with morbid obesity. ­ In testimony yesterday to the House of Representatives’ Committee on Government Reform, the American Obesity Association (AOA) called on Congress to immediately launch an investigation into Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida and other insurers’ decisions to eliminate coverage of surgery for persons with morbid obesity.

AOA Executive Director Morgan Downey focused on the medical community’s failure to understand the scope of the obesity epidemic and to manage it properly. "The most glaring offense is the refusal of health insurance companies to appropriately cover the treatment of obesity," said Mr. Downey. "Bariatric surgery is one of the most powerful, life-saving, life-enhancing medical interventions in modern medicine with a safety profile similar to other major invasive surgeries. Yet insurers like Florida Blue Cross and Blue Shield are dropping coverage in a callous strategy to improve profits on the gravestones of policyholders."

Mr. Downey pointed out that some 10 million Americans have morbid obesity, a population two times the size of the Alzheimer’s population. "Bariatric surgery," said Mr. Downey, "is the only effective treatment for persons with morbid obesity. In a recently published study using Canadian data, persons with morbid obesity who had surgery had a 90% better mortality rate than persons with morbid obesity who did not have the surgery. The surgery has been shown effective in several long term studies to not only cause significant weight loss but also act as a virtual cure for many long term chronic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, endocrine, metabolic disorders, psychiatric and mental disorders."

In February, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida announced that they were eliminating coverage of bariatric surgery starting in January, 2005. AOA’s Downey said, "Today, we are seeing several private insurers actually eliminate coverage for bariatric surgery for persons with morbid obesity. This is truly a national tragedy occurring at our doorsteps which will foreseeably result in hundreds if not thousands of preventable deaths of our mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters."

The AOA is a non-profit advocacy and educational organization. Recognition of obesity as a disease is a central goal of the group, founded in 1995. The AOA has obtained recognition of obesity as a disease by the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration, and in the recent Medicare policy change. It has worked to expand research on obesity at the National Institutes of Health where research funding on obesity has increased from approximately $97 million in 1997 to an expected $440 million in 2005. Most recently, the group has been bringing together pharmaceutical companies and the Food and Drug Administration to set new standards for future drugs to treat obesity.

TO read AOA’s statement to the House of Representatives’ Committee on Government Reform, click here.