Obesity Policy: In for a Penny, in for a Pound

Re “Revised Policy Treats Obesity Under Medicare,” July 16, and “Big Fat Mistake About Your Body,” an Opinion article by Paul F. Campos on July 4: As a physician working with many overweight and obese patients, I felt compelled to offer my two cents on the oft-cited Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute position, which suggests that Americans who make healthy lifestyle decisions will now be subsidizing those who do not. This view also reflects law professor Campos’ refrain about our scientifically unfounded sociocultural preoccupation with weight and body image.

Both commonly held positions fail to appreciate the significant difference between the overweight but essentially healthy Americans who struggle with an extra 10 or 15 pounds and may indeed be preoccupied with appearance, as Campos suggests, and the important group of obese, morbidly obese and “super obese” individuals who are unable to improve their health simply by reducing caloric input and increasing energy output.

These are people who suffer with a discrete and complex disease process at the cellular level. Those of us who take care of patients or who conduct research are jarringly reminded of this fact on a daily basis.

Would that it could be a matter of simply “making healthy decisions about nutrition and exercise.”

Peter Pressman MD

USC Keck School of Medicine

Los Angeles

Medicare for obesity is pathetic.

Now you will pay for your neighbors’ gastric bypass surgeries, as opposed to them paying for it themselves and having incentive to eat less and move more.

It’s just another consumer need that should be dealt with only by private industry, as opposed to a high-overhead, inefficient government bureaucracy that chokes a vigorous, job-creating private sector.

Don Smith

Costa Mesa

I wonder how long it will take for stupidity and laziness to be covered by Medicare.

Francisco Aguilera

Los Angeles