
Obesity Care, Jobs, and Economics in the NHS
Jabs for jobs. This very British headline sums up a bold effort in the UK to assess the economics of providing better access to obesity care within the National Health System. Right now, access to obesity care is highly constrained, reflecting an outdated presumption within the NHS that “we cannot treat our way out of obesity.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer seems to want a reconsideration of that dated approach. He told the BBC that obesity medicines could be “very important for our NHS, because, yes we need more money for the NHS, but we’ve also got to think differently.”
All this comes with an announcement that Lilly will invest almost $400 million in a study of tirzepatide’s real world effects on economic and health outcomes in Manchester. They are paying close attention to effects on employment and sick leave in this study. Thus the jabs for jobs quip.
An Economic Miracle?
Folks who are writing about a potential for an economic miracle coming from this effort might be getting a little far ahead of reality.
Still, this is a serious effort to rethink the population health approach to obesity that has failed now for decades. Taxes, nudges, and “education” to prompt behavior change has not done much to alter the rising prevalence and severity of this disease – because it does nothing to address the biological basis of obesity. UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting expresses the need for change in a commentary for the Telegraph:
“For years, governments have ducked the serious, long-term policy decisions required to tackle obesity’s debilitating effects. Fears of being labelled ‘nanny state’ have meant nothing has been done and the problem has only got worse.”
So this effort to understand the economics of obesity and care for this disease within the NHS is genuinely innovative. We are not counting on an economic miracle. But we do see the potential for tremendously valuable new insights.
Click here, here, and here for more on this innovative effort. For Streeting’s commentary, click here.
Saint Sergius (Employees), painting by Nicholas Roerich / WikiArt
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October 16, 2024
October 16, 2024 at 9:18 am, Allen Browne said:
Healthier people get more jobs and take less sick leave- makes sense to me.
Allen