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Medicare asked to cover more obesity surgery
Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, June 7, 2005
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Studies (CMS) was asked by a surgical group and several makers of devices for weight-loss procedures to consider expanding coverage of weight-loss surgery.
Health officials said the American Society for Bariatric Surgery, along with several companies, including Inamed Corp., Tyco International Ltd.'s U.S. Surgical, and Johnson & Johnson unit Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., have asked the government to pay for weight-loss surgery for elderly and disabled people who are morbidly obese, according to Reuters.
The group is asking CMS to start covering obesity itself as more Americans are gaining weight, with nearly two-thirds reportedly overweight or obese by the National Institutes of Health.
"We believe this expansion, based upon sound data, will improve the health, extend the duration and enhance the quality of life of Medicare beneficiaries," the doctors' group wrote, according to Reuters.
Weight-loss surgery is already covered for serious obesity-related conditions like diabetes, although payment varies among regions and most recipients, according to the American Obesity Association, of the surgery are younger, disabled patients, according to Reuters.
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