Obamacare and WLS, Which States are Covered

I know so far Texas, Colorado, and Mississippi are not covered for WLS, But how many states are, and are the states covered because of low obesity rates? Here is an interesting article about this...

http://kaiserhealthnews.org/news/bariatric-surgery-obesity-e xchange-marketplace-mississippi/

I'm not sure about Colorado, but I'm pretty sure Texas & Mississippi have high obesity rates. I'm also pretty sure these states are red states & therefore would be against Obamacare/Affordable health care act & can probably opt out what they will cover, probably because it would bankrupt the state. So the people will have to fork over the money on their own or just stay sick. Very sad choices.

If that were the case, Colorado would be covered - we have among the lowest obesity rates in the country - you rarely see an overweight person here let along someone who is MO.

We have cooperative exchanges which are the cheapest to enroll - I am in one and Kaiser is another - they won't offer WLS because it doesn't benefit the majority of their members, who are predominantly healthy and fit.

Matthew Mettz is a surgeon who wrote the blog I listed here and he doesn't understand why it is not covered... He does make a valid point about Colorado having a high rate of diabetes and other diseases that WLS could benefit... Perhaps because of that they don't want to cover it due to it could very well cause the state to go bankrupt...

It makes sense in low lying southern states that have high obesity rates, it would be way to costly... However I purchased a policy under the expectation that this was not going to be actual health care since I have not been sick for over two years, but for me it will be emergency care in case I lose a toe or something...

http://www.obesityhelp.com/articles/bariatric-surgery-covered-benefit-colorado

Hi Kim you are right Colorado has the lowest obesity rate and here a great website to show the projections. Colorado has had a significant rise in the number of Obesity cases though whi*****reased by 7 % not a staggering number but it is enough for concern at the future of Coloradans... I still wonder what the cause and effect will be now that Marijuana is legal, knowing of course that it will cause people to eat more... However Colorado is a healthy state because of all the year round outdoor activities... I love that state...

http://stateofobesity.org/states/co/

I began researching MNsure and learned that Minnesota is among the 46 states that chose not to include bariatric surgery in its covered procedures (only California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, and Washington, DC, consider it an essential benefit).

Wow, I went thru Covered California (blue shield), my job offers blue shield as well, but there's a WLS exclusion. I was under the impression every state exchange offered WLS. You learn something new everyday.

Yeah it is kind of sad, I do think affordable health care is good but it never trumps affordable prevention, and I say that meaning that life choices are the main factor, and as I drive down the road and count the number of fast food restaurants I can't help but think it costs less to have medical insurance than it does to feed your family four times a month at McDonalds. Yet the average person eats fast food more than that... I believe some changes will have to be made before it is all said and done...

You must be getting a heck of a deal on insurance then.  I pay more for just MY portion of my employer-sponsored health coverage than it would cost to feed a family of four at McDonald's once a week for a month...

Me, too. Much more. And I have to pay 20% of covered things, like my daughter's surgery. I just paid $3000 and am still waiting for her anesthesiologist bill