2022 Atlanta Board of Trustees Meeting

7173 S. Havana St #600-130 Centennial, CO 80112 P: 303.770.2526 | F: 303.779.4834 obesitymedicine.org

• People living with obesity are not only common victims of bias and stigma, but they are perceived as lazy and noncompliant even within our healthcare system. Most are not offered evidence-based treatment, in part because Medicare does not cover these treatments. This absence of coverage perseverates these mis-perceptions. Obesity can be treated, but seniors do not currently have access to all recommended treatment options. • Clinical guidelines recommend treatment with intensive behavioral therapy (IBT), pharmacotherapy, and bariatric and metabolic surgery. However, seniors currently only have limited coverage for IBT and surgery. • Anti-obesity medications are a critical part of the care continuum, particularly for people who are not able to lose weight through lifestyle intervention alone or who have multiple comorbidities. FDA-approved anti-obesity medications are proven to help patients with obesity achieve clinically meaningful weight-loss and can also improve many obesity co-morbidities such as Type II diabetes and hypertension. • A growing number of commercial and Medicaid plans offer coverage for anti-obesity medications. Medicare’s lack of coverage means that many patients lose access to medically necessary care when they turn 65. Access to anti-obesity medications is a health equity issue. • Non-Hispanic blacks had the highest prevalence of obesity at 49.6%, followed by Hispanics at 44.8%, and non-Hispanic whites at 42.2%. 2 African American women have the highest rates of obesity among any demographic group; approximately 4 out of 5 African American women have overweight or obesity. 3 • Given the disproportionate impact of obesity on communities of color – the impacts of this coverage gap are a barrier to better health in racial and ethnic communities that can be remedied. • In response to President Biden’s Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government, each federal agency must assess whether its programs and policies perpetuate systemic barriers that affect people of color and underserved groups. • To respond to this directive, CMS must update Part D coverage to alleviate this barrier for all Medicare beneficiaries, including communities of color. Obesity increases the risk for severe COVID-19. • The CDC reported that, 78 percent of patients who have been hospitalized needed a ventilator or died from COVID-19 have had obesity or are overweight as a co-morbidity had at least one underlying health condition, many of which were obesity-related diseases. 4

2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Adult Obesity Facts. 2020 [cited 2020 November 24]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html#:~:text=Obesity%20affects%20some%20groups%20more%20than%20others&text=Non%2DHispanic%20blacks%20(49.6%25),%2 DHispanic%20Asians%20(17.4%25). 3 https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=25 4 Body Mass Index and Risk for COVID-19–Related Hospitalization, Intensive Care Unit Admission, Invasive Mechanical Ventilation, and Death — United States. (2021, March 11). Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7010e4.htm?s_cid=mm7010e4_w