The following was written as part of my advocacy efforts with the Obesity Advocacy Coalition:

At the age of twenty-one, I had Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (weight loss surgery). Even though I was young, I had already reached 285 pounds, and I was saddled with the comorbidities of obesity. My adolescent body was bearing what should have been the diseases of a much older adult. I was on medications for high cholesterol, asthma, and depression and had been diagnosed with fatty liver disease, high blood pressure, and prediabetes. I was a very sick young woman, and I was in dire need of treatment. For me, the answer was weight loss surgery. Because I was a college student, bariatric surgery was only a viable option for me because I was still on my parent’s excellent health insurance.

Now, two years out from surgery, my story is very different. I no longer openly carry the badges of obesity, and my comorbidities have been alleviated. I am a healthy weight individual. But I am so aware of how different my life could have been based solely on a single clause in my insurance coverage. What if my parents had not been able to afford such generous insurance? What if their coverage had excluded coverage for obesity treatments, as so many plans do? Where would I be now? Would I be pursuing my PhD, when before my surgery I struggled to walk to my undergrad classes without losing my breath? Would I be working full-time, on my feet all day?

People need coverage for obesity treatment — all evidence based treatments, not just surgery. There has to be something to also fill that void between diet/exercise and surgery. For that reason, I am urging your boss to sign Rep. Towns’ letter to HHS Secretary Sebelius to ensure that obesity treatments are covered as essential health benefits. There are lives out there that need saving. Everyone deserves the access that I was able to receive.

Kaitlin Nelson
Dallas, Texas

Link to Towns Sign-on Letter:

https://filemanager.capwiz.com/filemanager/file-mgr/obesityaction/6_0611_Towns_DC_and_Letter_to_Sebelius_re_Obesity.pdf