Treat and Reduce Obesity Act expands healthcare coverage

Living with obesity is not a lifestyle choice.

Yet, as someone who works and coaches directly with people living with this chronic disease, I see too many of them blame themselves for the burden they carry. They face great vulnerability and existential challenges, including being objectified and alienated as human beings. Instead of leaving folks to battle this medical condition on their own, we need to recognize that obesity is an epidemic in our country and determine the best ways we can help individuals manage it.

We can help people manage obesity by changing how we frame this issue and getting rid of the toxic culture surrounding obesity within our society. People with obesity have been bullied, discriminated against and judged by others for factors outside their control. Because of these circumstances, individuals managing obesity are left without a proper support structure to fight this disease, creating an epidemic in our country. Already, federal data puts the obesity rate in the U.S. at 42.4 percent of adults, way up from 30.5 percent in 1999-2000.

By recognizing obesity as a medical condition, we can begin to offer potential treatments such as medications and therapies. Anti-obesity medications help reduce the prevalence of obesity, and improve overall public health and safety. Recent studies have shown how well AOMs have helped individuals battle obesity, and they are recommended by a number of health expert organizations as a key treatment option. However, without affordable coverage for these types of treatment, not everyone who has obesity has access to them.

As a result, we must ensure that people living with obesity have access to the proper medical resources. Through the federal government’s Treat and Reduce Obesity Act, Medicare is on the verge of expanding its coverage of therapies and medications, making them more widely available. Specifically, enacting this law would give folks access to FDA-approved AOMs under Medicare Part D. That would make this treatment option more accessible to lower-income patients who are already more likely to suffer from chronic obesity. It would also address other medical conditions such as type 2 diabetes, as 90 percent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese, and cancer, as obesity increases the risk of 13 types of cancers. Passing TROA would also have the added benefit of shrinking healthcare costs over time, as reducing Americans’ overall average body mass index by just 5 percent before 2030 would save the U.S. $25 billion a year.
 
Fighting obesity can be one of the hardest things for individuals to do. The disease can leave people more susceptible to other illnesses, as well as struggling to fight their own internal battles while experiencing judgment and discrimination. We need to build a support system for individuals living with obesity. By reforming our language around obesity and backing it up with federal legislation, we can do just that.