When Your Fast Weight Loss Diet Has Failed as Obesity Treatment, How Can the Right Medical Coverage Help?April, 2007
Health insurance plans weren't part of the discussion when recent studies of obesity treatment and diet programs were released this week. Sadly, for the billions of Americans who have tried them again and again, the average fast weight loss diet has been found not only to fail as a treatment for weight gain, but to leave most dieters
worse off than if they'd never tried the diet.
What might be the real solution to the growing epidemic of obesity in America? Research shows that the answer might be a medical coverage plan that incentivizes healthy behavior, and allows for regular checkups that provide the kind of guidance that people really need when they need to lose some weight.
According to
Reuters, people who are 100 pounds (45 kg) or more overweight are the fastest-growing group of overweight people in the United States. Researchers have found that the proportion of the severely obese was 50% higher in 2005 than it had been in 2000 -- a startling rate of growth.
Despite all of the public attention recently given to the risks of obesity and the prevalence of healthy obesity treatment, more than half of America is overweight, and rapidly getting heavier.
Now this health news regarding the failure of the fast weight loss diet to provide any long term results seems to have dashed the hopes of billions of Americans who don't understand what really leads to weight loss: long term (and less painful) healthy choices in food, smaller portions, and regular low impact exercise like walking. Instead, most people want instant gratification; they want to wake up a different person, which is ultimately impossible.
Overweight people have higher risks of heart disease, diabetes and some cancer, and obesity makes the risks much more imminent. And the costs of obesity treatment and the disease associated with obesity is one of the leading causes for the sudden rise in medical coverage costs.
But paradoxically, the right health insurance plans are out there waiting to help people lose weight the permanent way.
More and more health insurance plans are offering incentives to consumers who live healthy lifestyles, including those who are within a healthy BMI (body mass index), who have healthy cholesterol levels, and low blood pressure. It makes sense; you will ultimately cost less to health insurance agencies if you're following such guidelines, so why not reward those who do?
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Researchers have found that the proportion of the severely obese was 50% higher in 2005 than it had been in 2000?
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And with regular wellness checkups, those who are overweight or obese can get the kind of guidance they really need to lose weight. Doctors and nurses know what it takes to eat right and slowly take off weight in a healthy way. Any fast weight loss diet carries risks, as well as the clear likelihood that all the weight will be gained back, and then some.
By researching health insurance plans that offer such checkups and medical support, those who struggle with their weight can abandon torturous diets and enjoy the kind of health benefits that they've always desired.
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