It’s recently been in the news, again, that weight loss programs and drugs aren’t usually covered by US health insurance plans. Not even for Medicare, the US health insurance for those over-65 years old.
There’s a reason for that, which is that diets result in short term weight loss which is USUALLY REGAINED. A 2007 study looked at a bunch of weight loss studies, many by the companies that created the programs, and saw this pattern. Some companies tried to time their studies to include the weight loss but stop before the regain. Unfortunately for participants, the regain usually happens, whether it’s included in the study results or not.
The only change to this situation is the GLP-1 drugs. Currently it appears that people taking it for weight loss may lose an average 15% of their starting weight, and maintain it as long as they’re taking the drug. (Unless you’re one of the “nonresponders” who don’t see weight loss.) Results vary, side effects vary, but I’d like to see longer-term results, like 5 to 10 years. Hopefully we’ll have this at some point, and if the results are useful then insurance may cover it for weight loss, and not just treating diabetes.
All of this is ignoring questions about whether pursuing weight loss makes sense. Nobody has to try to change their weight, and remember that weight loss has risks of its own.
Living ~400lbs 