ROANOKE, Va. – A nonprofit organization wants to empower women to speak out about the need for obesity care with a new campaign.
Alliance for Women’s Health and Prevention created a campaign called EveryBODY Covered.
Through the campaign, one of the Alliance for Women’s Health and Prevention’s goals is to offer coverage for comprehensive obesity care. Comprehensive obesity care includes medical nutrition, surgery and weight loss drugs.
About 33% of adults were obese in 2022, according to KFF, a nonprofit focused on health policy formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation. However, only 16 state Medicaid programs offer coverage for weight loss drugs, including Virginia.
“What we know is that obesity is related to over 200 health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea. So, we just want to make sure that women can get the best comprehensive care possible to take care of those and help alleviate some of those diseases,” said CEO Millicent Gorham of Alliance for Women’s Health and Prevention.
As part of the EveryBODY Covered campaign, Alliance for Women’s Health and Prevention also asked for Congress to pass a bill called ‘The Treat and Reduce Obesity Act.’ If passed, this bill would allow Medicare to cover weight loss drugs for seniors.
“Obesity is a chronic disease no different than high blood pressure. No different than diabetes, and it’s only fair we believe that comprehensive obesity coverage should be covered no different than diabetes and high blood pressure,” said Gorham.