The American Medical Association (AMA) has officially classified obesity as a disease nearly 15 years after the National Institutes of Health did so in 1998. Since the AMA is considered the nation’s leading physician organization, the impact of the AMA’s decision to classify obesity as a disease will likely be significant, spawning new research and treatment approaches and changing the way doctors work with obese patients.
The nation’s obesity epidemic has increased by staggering numbers in the last decade. Today, more than a third of adults in the U.S. are considered obese, and 17% of youths age 2 to 19 are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The phenomenon of obesity is not limited to the United States alone—in fact, it has spread to virtually every corner of the planet and is now being called “globesity.”
The new classification of obesity as a disease may help the medical community in terms of getting paid by insurers. Currently, when treating obese patients physicians often code for symptoms of the disease, such as Type 2 diabetes, when submitting to the insurance company for payment. Coding for obesity or morbid obesity may help physicians get both preventative measures and treatment options covered more often by insurance companies.
Most importantly, say some, is that classifying obesity as a disease will help reduce the stigma that obese patients face, even from their doctors, according to a 2009 Journal of General Internal Medicine study. Although lifestyle changes are essential to combatting obesity, encouraging people to eat less and exercise more simply hasn’t been enough to curb the obesity epidemic.
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Source: http://www.amednews.com/article/20130701/house/130709952/1/