New US Medicare policy changes ruling that obesity is not an illness
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《英国医生杂志》
The US federal government has announced a new policy that enables Medicare to be able to pay for interventions to treat obesity, after abandoning its previous position that obesity was not an illness.
The new policy issued by the Department of Health and Human Services?Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services removed a statement in the manual of services covered by Medicare that "obesity itself cannot be considered an illness."
This position generally prevented Medicare, a government run scheme which provides health insurance to anyone aged 65 or over as well as people with certain disabilities from covering treatments for obesity unless they had other related diseases, such as diabetes or hypertension, that were recognised. The change in policy means that Medicare can now cover anti-obesity interventions if it decides that scientific and medical evidence supports their effectiveness in improving health outcomes.
Tommy Thompson, the health and human services secretary, said: "Obesity is a critical public health problem in our country that causes millions of Americans to suffer unnecessary health problems and to die prematurely. With this new policy Medicare will be able to review scientific evidence in order to determine which interventions improve health outcomes for seniors and disabled Americans who are obese and its many associated medical conditions."
The new policy is not expected to have an immediate effect on Medicare coverage but will trigger a review of data from clinical trials of obesity related treatments. Sean Tunis, chief medical office of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said: "We encourage and we抮e expecting requests to review scientific evidence evaluating the benefits of a range of treatments for obesity in the Medicare population."
He noted, "As a first step, we expect to convene our Medicare coverage advisory committee in the fall to evaluate the evidence on obesity related surgical procedures that may reduce the risk and other illnesses."
The change in the status of obesity is likely to have major implications for how obesity is considered, according to Morgan Downey, executive director of the American Obesity Association, an advocacy group that had been lobbying for the change.
The new rules do not apply to the Medicaid programme, which is for people on low incomes.
"Conceptually, this is a huge change—for the medical profession, for insurers, and for employers to treat this just like any other disease," she said, suggesting that the policy would probably affect health care reimbursed by private health insurance companies, which tend to follow Medicare policy.(New York Susan Mayor)
The new policy issued by the Department of Health and Human Services?Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services removed a statement in the manual of services covered by Medicare that "obesity itself cannot be considered an illness."
This position generally prevented Medicare, a government run scheme which provides health insurance to anyone aged 65 or over as well as people with certain disabilities from covering treatments for obesity unless they had other related diseases, such as diabetes or hypertension, that were recognised. The change in policy means that Medicare can now cover anti-obesity interventions if it decides that scientific and medical evidence supports their effectiveness in improving health outcomes.
Tommy Thompson, the health and human services secretary, said: "Obesity is a critical public health problem in our country that causes millions of Americans to suffer unnecessary health problems and to die prematurely. With this new policy Medicare will be able to review scientific evidence in order to determine which interventions improve health outcomes for seniors and disabled Americans who are obese and its many associated medical conditions."
The new policy is not expected to have an immediate effect on Medicare coverage but will trigger a review of data from clinical trials of obesity related treatments. Sean Tunis, chief medical office of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said: "We encourage and we抮e expecting requests to review scientific evidence evaluating the benefits of a range of treatments for obesity in the Medicare population."
He noted, "As a first step, we expect to convene our Medicare coverage advisory committee in the fall to evaluate the evidence on obesity related surgical procedures that may reduce the risk and other illnesses."
The change in the status of obesity is likely to have major implications for how obesity is considered, according to Morgan Downey, executive director of the American Obesity Association, an advocacy group that had been lobbying for the change.
The new rules do not apply to the Medicaid programme, which is for people on low incomes.
"Conceptually, this is a huge change—for the medical profession, for insurers, and for employers to treat this just like any other disease," she said, suggesting that the policy would probably affect health care reimbursed by private health insurance companies, which tend to follow Medicare policy.(New York Susan Mayor)