4 ms·
I doubt it's anywhere near that clearcut. "Weight" by itself is neither a disease nor a symptom. I have read numerous reports saying that weight loss often does
by sfink 2y ago
I doubt it's anywhere near that clearcut. "Weight" by itself is neither a disease nor a symptom. I have read numerous reports saying that weight loss often does not improve outcomes for various specific problems. Or that weight loss can help, but the way that it is lost matters more than the amount lost, and losing it the wrong way can be worse than maintaining the original weight. Not to mention that there are plenty of healthy overweight people and unhealthy skinny people. So I wouldn't be surprised if insurance companies are sitting back to see what the empirical effects of semaglutide-induced weight loss are on health outcomes. Perhaps there are data available on that now; I haven't looked.
Besides, it's hard to know what the health effects really are of being overweight, because it's such a convenient rug for doctors to sweep any and all problems under. "Let's see if you still have this problem after you've dropped 20 pounds, ok?" Because clearly your weight is due to a moral failing, and it suggests you're probably screwing up all kinds of other things. Why bother to work on helping you when you're unwilling to even try to do your part? Fat => lazy and weak-willed => won't stick to medication schedule or exercise or diet or anything => unworthy of help. There's not a lot of questioning whether being overweight is an effect or has a common cause; it's assumed to be the relevant cause, or at least has a high enough probability of being the only relevant cause worth looking at because it's common knowledge.
(Neither I nor anyone in my immediate family are overweight, by the way, so don't ignore my rant by assuming I'm being bitter about personal experience.)
- SoftTalker 2y ago> there are plenty of healthy overweight people No, there aren't. Being significantly overweight is unhealthy, full stop.
- lstamour 2y ago> (Neither I nor anyone in my immediate family are overweight, by the way, so don't ignore my rant by assuming I'm being bitter about personal experience.) If you haven't been living with extra weight for a decade, you wouldn't have the first-hand experience of why being overweight is definitely a symptom of and contributor to health issues as well as quality of life degredation. > I have read numerous reports... > Besides, it's hard to know what the health effects really are of being overweight... I can agree that being overweight is often what a doctor sees, but honestly any doctor that makes assumptions like that is not interested in root causes. They're trying to see as many patients as possible, e.g. as a GP, and offer fixes for what they can fix, and referrals to specialists for that which they can't fix with the usual prescription or advice. All this to say that I really disagree with the first paragraph, and this entire post feels like just opinion despite conjecture on what numerous reports you've read.
- cthalupa 2y ago> Not to mention that there are plenty of healthy overweight people This is only true in the most disingenuous of interpretations and look purely at BMI. The "health overweight" people are nearly exclusively those with significant lean body mass from the hypertrophy induced by resistance training. If it's fat pushing you into the overweight category, you're almost certainly unhealthy in a variety of manners. Insulin resistance, lipid profiles, blood sugar, arterial calcification, visceral fat pressing on organs, etc. etc. etc. all the way to less obvious ones like high estrogen levels in men causing issues with mood, etc. Being overweight is one of the worst things you can do to your health.