In Health Affairs: Obesity Care Is Preventive Care

It is hard not to think we are seeing a subtle shift in prevailing bias about obesity. Almost a decade ago, Health Affairs saw merit in publishing projections to say that taxes and other restrictions on unhealthy foods and beverages were more important than providing medical care for children with obesity. The argument was that obesity care was not worth its cost in comparison to preventive measures – because obesity care costs money. But primary prevention saves money. No matter that this narrative overlooks the miserable failure of primary prevention efforts.

Now, the winds at Health Affairs seem to be shifting. A new perspective in Health Affairs Forefront tells us new obesity medicines should count as preventive care:

“For the individuals who take GLP-1s, the possible increase in quality of life approaches the immeasurable. For the healthcare system, the savings to be realized from GLP-1s are readily measurable, and staggeringly large. Like other preventive interventions recommended by the USPSTF, GLP-1s should be made available to those who need them without cost sharing.”

Re-Valuing Discounted Lives

The old way of thinking about obesity mostly discounted people who live with the condition. Providing care for them would be costly. Impractical. Tell them to eat less, move more, and live healthier lives. Leave it at that. All too often, the presumption was that treatment is futile. Even today in some places, health policy makers say this.

But we insist upon holding up the notion that the lives of people facing obesity have the same value as people who are biologically resistant to it. Discounting a person’s life because of obesity is offensive – whether the discounting is explicit or not.

Click here for the new perspective in Health Affairs.

Motherhood, painting by Pablo Picasso / WikiArt

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July 14, 2024