Kansas considers insurance coverage for weight-loss surgery
Topeka, KS
Insurance spokesman: Paying for procedure would cost everyone
More than half of adult Kansans are overweight and almost a quarter are obese, which caused an estimated $657 million annually in medical expenses between 1998 and 2000.
On Thursday, a Senate committee heard from a Wichita man and a Topeka doctor who said the morbidly obese could be helped, and lives could be saved, if insurance companies paid for weight-loss surgery.
Sen. Jim Barnett, R-Emporia, a physician, said he called the meeting of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee to "nudge" the conversation forward. But he said he doesn't favor legislation requiring such coverage.
And one Kansas insurance spokesman warned that covering such surgery could drive up costs for everyone.
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