Beginning next year more Louisianans will be eligible for insurance coverage for bariatric surgery as commercial insurers will be required to cover the weight loss surgery. Medicaid currently covers the surgery and the insurance state workers have also pays for it.
Baton Rouge Senator Regina Barrow says this is an important new law when you consider the state’s obesity rate is around 40-percent.
“We look at really improving the quality of life of individuals as well as better impacting the quality of Louisiana’s life,” said Barrow.
Barrow said obesity costs the state $32 billion annually in health-related costs and work productivity losses. Out-of-pocket costs for the surgery range between $15,000 and $,25,000.
Former New Orleans Senator Diana Bajoie began the initiative two decades ago for insurance coverage and Barrow has since led the charge.
Barrow said a pilot test was conducted among 300 state employees who are medically qualified to show the benefits of the surgery and how it reduced other obesity medical related issues. She said the pilot’s success helped justify the legislation.
“And it has shown for the benefits not only to the individuals but to the state and so it only made sense to make it available to everyone,” said Barrow.
For state employees, the law does not change, and the state cap of 300 patients annually for the surgery.
Barrow said Louisiana is among the last states in the country to receive insurance coverage for the surgery.
A patient who was part of the pilot program, Barrow said approached her in the grocery store and shared with her how dramatically her life has improved because of the surgery.
“And just being able to do little things that we take for granted, being able to run outside with her grandchildren, she said she could not do that. She could not often time go to many of these events they were attending because she couldn’t walk and now, she’s doing all of that,” said Barrow.
Barrow said in the future she plans to introduce legislation for more health insurance providers in the state to cover medications that have been proven to help with weight loss.
The coverage will go into effect for commercial insurers on January 1, 2025.
