Phentermine
This page is written solely for readers in the United States. The law and practice is different in other countries. The question of insurance is relevant for two related reasons.
1. The first and most immediate is whether the insurance company will cover the cost of weight loss prescriptions. Because companies tend to be some years behind the medical profession, there is resistance to the notion that being overweight or obese is a "disease" in the same sense as, say, cancer. In this, insurance companies are following in the footsteps of the judges who also consider body weight to be under the voluntary control of individuals and therefore not a disability in the same sense as, say, blindness. Thus, insurance companies often do not cover the cost of antiobesity medications and, to that extent, continue a general policy of discrimination against those who are overweight.
But the medical professions in most countries where national health budgets have come under pressure now consider obesity to be a chronic disease. This may be a direct assessment or indirect because of the almost inevitable comorbidities, i.e. that those who are overweight will also have problems affecting blood pressure, the heart and so on. As a result, some US insurance companies will now reluctantly follow the national medical assessment and cover the cost of medication on a preventative basis or as part of an overall package of treatments for the relief of associated diseases. In principle, you should ask your insurers for their latest policy.
If your insurers do pay for weight loss prescriptions, the next step is a visit to your health care provider (usually your physician). At this point, you can have a detailed discussion with the person in the middle. Your physician will not be either a party to the contract of insurance, or an agent for the insurance company. As an independent party, he or she can offer dispassionate advice.
Remember that it will generally be unlawful under both federal and state laws for your physician to disclose your private medical details to any third party without your express consent in writing. In addition to the general principle, the laws offer specific prohibitions and restrictions on the right of your physician to release information about any treatment of psychiatric problems, alcohol and/or drug use, venereal disease including HIV, and prenatal care for minors. The consent form usually given to you to sign should identify the physician entitled to make the disclosure, what information can be disclosed, the reason for the disclosure and acknowledge that you can revoke this right of disclosure at will. If any disclosure is made without express consent, you can sue the physician and any other member of staff involved for breach of your privacy.
2. This is where we come to the second issue. If you are overweight or obese, your chances of early death are significantly increased. If your insurance company learns that you are more likely to contract a range of serious diseases with expensive long-term costs associated with their treatment, and to die younger than the norm, premiums for your health cover are likely to rise and the costs of your life assurance may be revised upwards. The actuaries working for insurance companies are not paid to be sympathetic. When given the latest information about your health risks, they protect the company's bottom line to the extent allowed by the policies (which may or may not allow an annual review of the premiums payable).
It is therefore in your interests to discuss how much information to disclose to your insurers, particularly if they also carry your life policies. When making the decision, remember the fact of commercial life that insurance companies share information between themselves. As and when renewal of your existing policy comes round and the premiums go up, you might try to transfer your cover to another company. That second company may already have access to your data. It may know if you fail to make a complete disclosure of all the relevant health facts, i.e. you do not tell them about your weight. Failure to disclose makes any new policy you obtain unenforceable. Once the news of your weight is released to insurers, it is almost impossible to conceal it again. All future policies will be more expensive as a result or you may be denied cover altogether.
Back to your immediate decision: if you decline consent to any disclosure, no insurance is available to cover the cost of the treatment and you will be billed for all the prescription medications you decide to take. What you have to decide is whether the cost of maintaining your privacy is better value than the long-term costs of premium increases and possible denial of cover.
There is one final factor to mention. All insurance policies include a general term requiring you to make a full disclosure of all information necessary to appraise the medical risks when you are entering into the contract. Some contain a second term requiring you to keep your insurer up-to-date should you develop new illnesses and diseases. Always read your policies carefully at times like these. If you have such a clause in your policy, you should notify your insurers and make a claim for all necessary treatment. Failure to notify under the second term is likely to void your policy, so all later treatment will suddenly be at your own expense. By claiming, you are aiming to get as much value from the policy while you can. It makes the best of a bad situation.
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