Insurers often opt out of paying for obesity drugs

• The problem took on more urgency during the pandemic as COVID, on top of pre-existing conditions, made many Americans more vulnerable to serious illness and death.

What's happening: Insurers often categorize evidence-based obesity care such as obesity drugs and behavioral therapy as "vanity" care that falls beyond their coverage rules.

• But studies have shown that drugs can help a person with obesity lose up to 15% of their body weight compared to 5% seen with diet and exercise changes alone.

The intrigue: Doctors sometimes prescribe the drugs for diabetes in an attempt to get coverage, per the Times.

What they're saying: "Access to medicines for the treatment of obesity is dismal in this country," said Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity medicine specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.