They’re looking at whether it could be funding for people with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more with at least one weight-related health condition, people with insufficiently controlled type 2 diabetes, or those with cardiovascular disease with a BMI of 27 or more.
Currently, if you’re prescribed Wegovy, for instance, you need to pay about $460 a month.
After Australia committed to funding it for certain patients, the same script will be about $29.
Obesity specialist Dr Gerard McQuinlan told The Front Page we need to start treating obesity like a disease.
“Probably the biggest misconception is that it’s a failure of willpower.
“We know that diet and lifestyle just by themselves work for a short period of time. But only about one in 20 patients will actually succeed and keep the weight off.
“It’s a common story for people who’ve been on three, four, or five diets in their lifetime, and over that time, they just got bigger. That’s not a chance thing. That’s due to the brain’s hormone control of weight. So, weight is controlled by hormones in the brain that interact with the gut,” he said.
McQuinlan believed subsidising weight loss medications would save the taxpayer in the long run.
“If the taxpayer’s upset about funding treatments for obesity, that’s like saying to the taxpayer you should feel upset that we are treating diabetes.
“We have to see obesity as a disease, first and foremost. And that’s gonna be quite a big shift. It’ll probably take years to shift that focus.
“I think if it’s tracked well, the Government could probably see savings. Less liver transplants, less patients with diabetes, who then have other significant operations, less osteoarthritis, and less disability,” he said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
The history of weight loss drugsRethinking obesityTreatment misconceptionsBarriers and stigma.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.