Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Australian Obesity "Expert" recommends Obesity Surgery for everyone obese.

Proclaimed obesity "expert" Professor Proietto of Australia recently said in some garbage opinion article in the The Medical Journal of Australia that spending money on weight loss efforts by the government is a waste and that people will regain any weight that is lost.  His solution?  Government funding should be used to fund obesity surgery for the public which in his opinion gives long term weight loss results to those who are suffering from obesity.  Apparently public health messages are only good for preventing diseases and smoking so he says. 

What?  His belief is that once your obese, your body will want to keep you there.  You can lose weight in the short term, but according to him it will come back within 1-2 years.   Well, how much is that going to cost?  52% of women and 67% of men in Australia are overweight or obese, both numbers are increasing.  You though the United States had debt issues...  what is interesting to note is that in the long run this might actually save money.....at least according to a study published a few years ago in the American Journal of Managed Care....which claimed that the average cost of bariatric surgery at the time of the study ($26,000) was recovered in 49 months.  Other studies show similar results.  This however assumed that all patients keep the weight off after about 4 years, which we know is not the case, as many people end up putting the weight back on after surgery.  But overall, if having obesity surgery ends up saving people and the country a lot of money, is it worth doing?

Could we actually save money and lives at the same time by having the government start paying for obesity surgery?  Do you think people would abuse this process and gain weight just to have the surgery for free through the government? 

I'm still a proponent of at least trying WITH FULL EFFORT to lose the weight naturally, but if all else fails, looking at other options.

What say you? 

1 comment:

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