Let me explain with my current situation. I am 22 F and I currently weigh 305lbs.
I am obese. Morbidly obese.
Even though I have been trying for 5 years at this point to lose the weight on my own. Eat healthier, eat more fruits and veggies, cut out excess sugar, walk more, exercise more, the whole kit and caboodle.
But I still am not losing the weight. I am still very fat. And I am worried that it will cause very serious health problems.
So I talked with my doctor and she told me “We need to get you on a weight loss medication. Let’s try Ozempic”.
But my insurance told us that they don’t think I need the Ozempic so they won’t pay for it.
So we tried Wegovy and Mounjaro. But my insurance still rejected our requests.
They’re saying because I am young, and I am a diabetic with good numbers, I dont need the weight loss meds and I can just lose the weight naturally.
But ive been trying to and it hasn’t been working. So that’s why my doctor prescribed me the weight loss med.
Why is this allowed? Why is it that your insurance can deny you a medication, even if your doctor says you need it?
And depressed people can save money by just smiling more!
My first reaction would be to say not the same thing, but then I remembered we’ve had studies recently that have confirmed that depression can genuinely be helped by leaving the house and touching grass.
But still not the same thing compared to depression, unless you have some eating related disorder or medical issue, the vast majority don’t and historically never have. The obseity epidemic is caused by caloric density creeping up in ultra processed foods, which already tells you everything you need to know, tricking people into thinking they eat a normal amount when they most definitely don’t.
The fact that this food is almost like a drug for some brains combined with the fact that some bodies struggle more than others with burning calories can make it more difficult at first for people but given difficult circumstances like having to pay 200$ per week to do something about it, there is always the free alternative. The difficulty in this case is more akin to quitting smoking or coffee. No one said it’s easy, but most could do it if they set their minds on it.
On a less brute force but not free path I would spend a fraction of that money on a dietician that can monitor my intake and make recommendations. At least that way there’s external support and motivation. I found they are like 100-200$ per month so an 8th to a quarter of the ozempic price.