Posted on 09/19/2006 6:27:36 AM PDT by WestTexasWend
-County employees would participate in pilot program-
Travis County's top officials may decide today to offer weight-loss surgery to county employees, a step that is unusual but becoming increasingly popular with local governments.
Under the pilot program being considered, the county would pay for up to 15 bariatric surgeries — or trimmings of the digestive tract — per year. The program would last five years.
Each procedure would cost the county $15,000 to $25,000, according to reports to the county commissioners, who will decide whether to adopt the program. Employees would have to meet requirements to be eligible, including a clinical diagnosis of morbid obesity and a year of monitored, unsuccessful dieting and exercise.
The county estimates that 300 to 400 of its approximately 4,100 employees would be eligible for the surgery.
"Unfortunately, the program is obviously very needed," said County Judge Sam Biscoe, chairman of the commissioners court. "We do have more than our fair share of employees who qualify."
The idea came from a committee that reviews the county's health care plan each year. The county staff, Biscoe said, suggested that the county would save money in the long run by paying for the surgeries, although Biscoe said the staff has not provided conclusive data.
Commissioner Gerald Daugherty said he supports using the pilot program to see whether it will save the county money, adding that it will take only a fraction of the county's $60 million health care budget.
"To me," Daugherty said, "it's a calculated way to see if we can help ourselves out since we're self-insured."
Nationwide, bariatric surgery is becoming more popular. The procedure has been found to help with conditions such as diabetes, asthma and hypertension, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which estimates that 60 percent of Americans are overweight or obese.
Dr. Neil Hutcher, a past president of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery, said about 170,000 procedures were performed last year, rising from about 47,000 in 2001. Among the benefits, Hutcher said, is that 90 percent of diabetics who undergo the surgery no longer need insulin supplements.
He said that state governments commonly cover the procedure but that local ones usually do only as part of more expensive health plans.
Bariatric surgery includes reducing the size of the stomach or rerouting the intestines. Gastric bypass is an example.
The procedure comes with some risk of complications, including respiratory failure. Four of 10 patients who have weight-loss surgery develop complications within six months, a recent study by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found.
But Hutcher said the problems of bariatric surgery have been exaggerated. He said it is 10 times less likely to cause a fatality than heart surgery and carries about the same risk of death as knee surgery.
Some Texas cities have covered the procedure for several years. But they found it cost far more than anticipated, said Susan Smith, executive director for the Texas Municipal League's Intergovernmental Employee Benefits Pool. The pool covers 620 cities, municipal utility districts and other local governments.
Smith said the cities began scaling back their coverage after costs were higher than expected. Smith said Travis County's cost estimates are probably too low.
Still, the surgery can dramatically improve health if patients stick to a health plan, Smith said. Because of this, the municipal league will begin offering partial coverage in October. Its insurance will cover 50 percent of the cost, up to $30,000. The procedure will be available only to those who have demonstrated they cannot otherwise lose weight, she said.
The municipal league's plan covers everyone under it, including spouses and children.
"My biggest concern isn't with the adults," Smith said. "I was on the plane the other day and heard 16-year-old girls talking about bariatric surgery."
Didn't we just get notice of a property tax increase because the new hospital district is short of money?
Nine months later, she had lost 90 pounds, dumped her husband, and got a boyfriend.
That's the key, *IF*. My s-i-l is on her second one. She didn't follow it right and it didn't work.
ping
Only in Austin!!!!!!
Send their fat a$$es to Afghanistan. After a year of supporting out troops, and only eating 3 square meals per day, I guarantee that they'll lose weight.
The complication rate for this type of surgery is very high and we aren't talking about a round of antibiotics and a few days off work. Most patients never lose all the weight and many of them slowly regain the weight they lost in the first year.
Reading the comments, I guess that weight loss is a truly impossible goal or one that can only be achieved by eating free-range buffalo and freshly picked snow peas.
Oddly enough, my husband managed to lose a lot of weight simply by cutting his portions in half, saving sweets and snacks for the weekend, and walking. I guess he's the complete exception, though - no way anybody else could use that method.
My company is self-insured. Until recently, we did pay for this surgery. The people who had the surgery DID lose weight.
However, we decided not to pay for these surgeries any more because we do consider them elective, and we have decided that we don't want to pay for health care expenses due to any complications, since it is elective.
IF these people chose to stick to a health plan, they wouldn't be lard a$$es today! Living healthy is simple, but not necessarily easy. If you burn more calories than you take in, you will lose weight. It requires healthy eating habits, regular excersise and will power.
Have you ever noticed that the people that troll through parking lots looking for the absolute closest parking space to the store's entrance are many times overweight and out of shape? They park as close as possible, waddle into the grocery store, hop on the electric cart and motor over to the Twinkie aisle. Common sense tells me that this may have something to do with the fact that they have the figure of a Hershey's Kiss.
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