Should all who want WLS be able to get it??

NO! It ****** me off to no end those who feel they are entitled to something.
I bust my a&& in my career and for that I'm paid well and have amazing health insurance the thought of everyone having what I have without having to work as I have for what I have is insulting!
For those who want it, need it and are willing to go through supervised diets, regular thearpy and doctors appointments -- do you time and you'll be rewarded with the surgery.

As for plastic surgery it should be a part of the whole WLS experience. Having the skin breakdown issues and rashes isn't fun. But for those without the insurance I'm torn I don't think they should get something without having worked for it.
I'm paying $2,500 out of pocket for liposculpting with my PS and that is what my insurance won't pay for it's something I want therefore I'm paying for it and working hard to save for it.

Off my soapbox.

This is one topic I am quite happy to get up on a soapbox about.

We know if you have 50 lb. or more to lose, that the chances of doing it with diet and exercise are close to nil. We know that WLS works for most people. Therefore, I think that if a person has that much to lose and has dieted one time and failed, they should be able to get the surgery if they want it.

If obesity is truly a disease -- and I think it is -- then it should be treated like any disease. If I had cancer, my insurance company would pay millions of dollars to fix me even if I had a terminal case so I wasn't going to get better. But I have obesity and they've decided it's "not cost effective" to treat me, that it's cheaper to let us be sick for a while and then die young.

When has treating a disease ever had to pass the "we'll save more money if we treat you than if you don't" test to be covered? Can you imagine how up in arms everyone would be if we stopped treating diabetes because it's more cost effective to let people die than pay for years of insulin?

As for PS, I think it depends on what it is and your situation. If you just want to look like a 20 year old when you are 50, then no. But if you have lost 200 lb. and your skin is "join the the circus freaks" bad or it interferes with daily life, that's not cosmetic surgery... that's reconstructive surgery and it should be covered.

New Hampshire recently passed a bill that will require private insurance companies to pay for WLS for medically eligible workers. 

This is absolutely appropriate and it is something that the federal government should mandate nationwide.    

Why?

Because that mandate will shift the cost of obesity to the private sector. Employers ( and obviously employees as well ) paying for WLS in younger workers will eliminate the need for financially challenged Medicare and Medicaid to pay for the consequences of obesity later on in the obese workers life. 
 
Thats my two cents. 

 

I don't think you're going to get that great of a discussion going, because your question is misleading and confusing.

The U.S. does not have social medicine; however, the way you phrase it, it sounds as if you are talking about that very thing.

The real question is really whether those who qualify under medical guidelines should be able to get WLS without having to fight their insurance companies to the death.

There are those in the U.S. who cannot get any medical coverage of any kind, regardless of what it's for.  It's unclear exactly under what context you are suggesting that WLS be allowed, and for whom.

I personally believe that no medical insurance company should be allowed to deny ANY proven medical procedure.  WLS costs as little as $15,000, give or day a few dollars, and the excuse for denial that is often given is that it is "cosmetic" (that's the one I got) or some other BS reason.  Thus, we have people who have perfectly valid medical insurance who are turned down, so they either self-pay (which makes me cringe in the event of complications) or they do without.  Insurance companies, however, tend to fold very quickly when the patient sues (as I did) because a lawsuit could easily cost 2-3 times more than the surgery itself; thus, within 24 hours of my lawyer's letter hitting their desks, the insurance company that had twice denied me suddenly approved me.  My cost to sue?  Less than $500.  I was going to have to sue for my revision when they apparently realized that I was going to get much sicker without the surgery, or they found out I am a former paralegal and I had sued previously to get surgery.

No one who qualifies due to co-morbidities should be denied healthcare coverage for WLS. 

If you're trying to start a shouting match over social medicine for WLS, I think I'll pass.  I can't really tell what your intent is on this one.

How about keeping the insurance companies from making it so damned hard?  We pay for it in our insurance premiums.  That's enough.  Medicare pays for it, many states Medicaid pays for it, so yeah, our taxes are already there.  You can make coffee at Starbucks and get it through their insurance.  There IS a way if someone wants it bad enough.  Compromises may have to be made, though.