Steamed!!!

Hey AMOS family, My denial has kept me up nights thinking. I myself am over the the denial and just looking towards the future, and making arrangements to ensure my approval in September. What has me really steamed is the system... I can't understand why Morbid Obesity isn't treated as a disease like if it was cancer. Cancer has touched my life by infecting friends and family, I have lost friends and family to cancer and it is a disease that needs to be eradicated. On that same token Obesity is a disease that has affected me and family and friends as well. I have lost family to obesity and the co-morbidities that go along with it, however Obesity for some reason is not respected as the disease that it is by the general public the way cancer is. If someone is diagnosed with Cancer, every and all means possible are used for the treatment, Radiation, Chemo whatever. If someone is diagnosed as Morbidly Obese, people look at it as though it is something that a person has done to themselves, like a sexually transmitted disease. You might hear someone say "just go on a diet" in the same way they would tell someone if they want to avoid an STD to wear a condom. I don't know what we as obese people can do to change the perspective that people have about obesity, but it's something that has to happen. I also don't understand why we as obese people accept how we are treated by the system and people in general. Things need to change for us. No one should have to explain their life history to anyone to attain a cure for a curable disease. In my life I have beaten obesity once, I succeeded I lost all of my excess weight. I then managed to gain it all back. I then managed to lose 75lbs again, not all of my excess weight but a good amount. Somehow I keep losing this weight but it keeps finding me. Why is it that I have to explain this to a company that I pay to insure that my medical expenses are covered to ensure that they will cover the cure to a disease that is curable that I have. Then once I explain and prove my case to them, they can turn around and say, give it one last try. try for six months contemporaneously and in three months we will hear your appeal. All my life I have battled a disease, the chips seemingly always stacked against me, I have finally found some promise in WLS. I look at WLS as a chance to finally stack the chips in my favor, and now I find myself with a new battle on my hands, the battle against the insurance companies. Well my friends if I can beat obesity, and I promise you I will once and for all, I can beat the insurance companies. I don't know what school I have to go to or what classes I have to take But I am going to make it my life's work to change the system and beat these insurance companies into understanding that OBESITY IS A DISEASE and not one to be taken lightly. I am 27 years old there's a lot of life left in me yet. I feel bad for these insurance companies; because once I put something in my head...it's all over. I think I'll start with some law classes. My parents always wanted a lawyer for a son. I am P*SSED Enzo-

Dear Enzo, It is very sad that society views obesity as a self inflicted problem verses a disease. The National Institutes of Health, which sets the basis for disease in this country, recognizes obesity as disease. Just take a look how long it took for mental illness to be recognized as a disease and not some form of self inflicted problem. Depression was always thought of (and by some still is) as something you could "just get over" if you pick yourself up, brush yourself off and move on". As for insurance insurance companies. They know morbid obesity is a disease, at least the government tells them it is...it has a medical code attached to it. Insurance companies take a pretty tough beating on this site. Maybe sometimes we forget that for those who are employed and have insurance through their employers, the employers are the ones we need to go to first. Employers purchase insurance from these companies and choose the policies based on coverage. In some cases due to the lower cost to the company, employers will chose policies with many restrictions (much like HMO's). When I was going to have my surgery, the first ones I called were my husband's human resourse department to find out exactly what our insurance policy stated about weightloss surgery. Then, I contacted RMSCO to find out their Corporate Policy on WLS. This gave me an idea as to what I needed to do to have my surgery approved, or even if my surgery was covered under my husband's policy. I don't think it's that insurance companies do not recocognize morbid obesity as a disease, as much as wanting to make sure it's medically necessary. For those of us who are morbidly obese we know it's medically necessary. I remember a time with my medical insurance when I didn't need approval for any procedure. Now, due to the high cost of medical care in this country, almost every procedure, including a mastectomy (FOR CANCER) must have second opinion and prior approval. So yes, we as morbidly obese people have a fight on our hands. First with society to accept obesity as a disease. We also need to educate ourselves about our employer's choice of insurance policies. If there is a choice of policies when we become employed, research them carefully. Just because an HMO looks good because you only have to pay a small co-pay doesn't mean it's the best policy for you. Perhaps paying a little more out of your pocket up front for a traditional policy will give a little more "wiggle" room. Understand your insurance complany's CORPORATE policy. This is the policy that is across the board regardless of your company's policy. Every insurance company sets a corporate policy, especially now for WLS. Some require a six month supervised diet, others don't. And now with WLS quickly becoming the most reasonable chance of a cure for obesity, due to the high cost, the scrutiny placed upon approval for this surgery will only become more intense. Enzo, I commend you. I think you should go to law school. You'd make a great lawyer with immense passion. You are so right, we need to stand up for ourselves as human beings. I agree that obese people (in general, not all) really do tend to sit back and allow society to mistreat us. Obesity is not like the disease of alcoholism or drug addiction in that we cannot just "never put another piece of food in our mouths". We don't like being obese. Our obesity causes so many other illnesses. The one thing our employers and our insurance companies need to understand is that in the long run, when WLS works it will eventually save them money. Not just in medical bills, but in time lost from work. So, fight Enzo. I'm right next to you. But we have to remember, in any war you have to understand who the enemy really is. Learn as much in advance before the fight, and then pick your battle carefully. Sometimes the one we think is the enemy turns out to be just another rung on the ladder. I guess that's my Saturday food for thought. All the Best, Deb

Hi Enzo.... There's really nothing I can add to your post that you haven't already said. I just came in to show my support. I understand you fully. I would love to see your name spread all over those insurance companies lists of people that need to be taken seriously.......You Go Boy!!!!! They have no idea how angry they can really make someone. You know what sucks,? Half the time the person sitting behind that approval is some skinny individual who has absolutley no idea what it's like to every possess so much as an ounce of fat on them. Somebody who if given the opportunity, could not walk a minute in our shoes!!!!! They would not know what to do with themselves if they so much as gained 1 pound more than whats considered the NORM.......This is a real serious matter, and I believe that we need to start getting people involved that actually understand the disease, and it's co-morbidities.........They need to stop taking these disease so lightly, and learn to treat it as if it was any other fatal disease. (which is exactly what it is) If not treated, it can definately lead to fatalities......Let me stop here, because I can go on forever about this matter........I just needed to let you know, you are not alone, and you have my support. If ever you feel the need to talk, email me....... Take care and God Bless........ Blanquie

I also have nothing to add to your posting because you really do seem to state your cause rather well. I think its a shame that WLS is frowned up. (I was one who looked down on people who had WLS for a long time) Good luck with moving forward Enzo! Laurie

Thanks guys for replying, Like I said I am moving forward. I expected to get denied with all the nightmare stories I have read on here. Thank God for this site, it prepared me so much for this journey. I just keep looking forward to September. Like I've said before I have been obese my entire life, so waiting three more months won't kill me. Well I have offically begun looking into furthering my education, and I have also begun drafts of letters that I am writing to both of my state senators. There needs to be some sort of standard set of guidlines that all insurance carriers have to follow. How is it that one company has one policy regarding the disease and another has a totally different set of guidlines regarding the same exact disease? I don't know!!! but I am not stopping till someone pays attention.

Hi This is my first post on this site and you seemed like the person I wanted to talk to. Thanks for the eloquent articulation of a problem many people share -- just add being 40+ and female to your list and see how much fun I am having. People of all ages just look through me as though I were invisible (hard to imagine 280 lbs of transparency me, but, go figure). I am hoping to have my surgery at the end of the month of July and am looking forward to looking like myself again (pre-pregnancy and thyroid problem). It will be nice to be part of the visible light spectrum again. As to the stigma associated with obesity, depression, and other mental illnesses, we can only hope that time will allow for the spread of what the National Institutes of Health already know, (remember when homosexuality was considered a disease?!) to the general public and the insurance industry. Having suffered from depression myself, I have heard many people suggest that I pull myself up by my proverbial bootstraps -- I even postponed seeing a shrink and getting the medication I needed after a relapse following several years of "normal" because I thought it was a "cop out" and that I should be able to do it myself (sound familiar?!?). No one but a Christian Scientist would suggest that to someone with cancer or a broken leg (and even they don't suggest doing it alone, but rather turning it over to a higher power to do it for you). You go get that law degree if that's what you want -- either way, you sound as though you will be a strong advocate for the rights of the one group it's still OK to pick on, discriminate against, and generally make miserable -- the overweight. Lisa

Thank you Lisa, I can't do this by myself though. we all need to become advocates, lets all start writing to our officials in state and federal govt. maybe we'll make an impact!!! We need better education of younger generations regarding nutrition, and we need one standard that both insurance companies and medical professional have to follow. While we are at it , we need a more obese friendly world!!! Imagine if a restaurant was not hadicap accesible, there would be fines up the ying yang, but if the seats in that same restaurant do not accomodate obese people there are no fines written. Let's not use restaurants as our only example the same thing goes for airplanes, movie theatre and just about every public place out there. Theres a whole can of worms that we can open up if we all got together and started an advocacy group. let's organize let's unite and make this thing real. 1 in 50 americans are considered to be morbidly obese that's over 4 million Americans, the last presidential election was won by less than that only 3,461,352 votes. All I am saying is that we have to power to change things, no one else. -Enzo

I am steamed too!!! This is my first post, I just found this forum. I just went to my family Dr. today, hoping to get a referral that I thought I had to have to go see the bariatric surgeon to get me on the road to recovery from this disease of obesity. Well, what I am teed off about is the fact that my Dr. basically told me to go on a "diet" of 2-3 meals a day equal to the size of a half a peanut butter sandwich each meal. And to join a health club and get this one go swimming for god's sake, HUH YEAH RIGHT I'm thinking me in a bathing suit NOT going to happen. Easy for him to say. And what he gave me was a prescription for the center, and no referral. My BMI is 47, He himself said I need to lose at least 110 pounds, preferably 124 pounds to be in my correct weight range. Any way, he told me that I didn't have to have a referral as far as my insurance company. So I basically wasted my time and money. I soooo believe this is a disease, both my children were born a nice healthy but to the low side of weight 6-11 and 7-2 but they both had a lot of excess fat on their legs and their rear ends. They are both grown up 20 and 17 and are within my same weight range. My family on my mothers side suffer from morbid obesity, and goes back generations upon generations. My doctor asked me of past diets and exercise regimens. I told him of several, nothing in the past has worked for me, and I don't want to take pills which he offered. I think I am going to contact the surgeons office directly and see if that gets me anywhere, sorry if I got off topic here, I also needed to vent. Thanks for listening, Shannon Campbell, NY