Report Card on Access to Obesity Treatment for Adults in Canada

Obesity Canada has just released an updated 2019 report card on access to obesity treatments for adults in Canada. The report focuses on four key obesity management tools: 

• specialists and interdisciplinary teams for behavioural intervention
• medically supervised weight-management programs with meal replacements
• anti-obesity medications
• bariatric surgery (1). 

Major findings indicate that since the 2017 report there have been:

• no improvements in treatment
• obesity is still regarded as self-inflicted
• there are a lack of interdisciplinary teams to treat patients
• patients cover their own costs for weight management programs and foods
• obesity drugs are not covered in public programs
• there are no policies or guidelines to treat or manage obesity in Canada
• there are long wait times for bariatric surgery (1). 

Five key recommendations are provided as follows:

1. “Governments, employers and the health insurance industry should officially adopt the position of the Canadian Medical Association that obesity is a chronic disease and orient their approach/resources accordingly.
2. Governments should recognize that weight bias and stigma are barriers to helping people with obesity and enshrine rights in provincial/territorial human rights codes, workplace regulations, healthcare systems and education.
3. Governments should include anti-obesity medications, weight-management programs with meal replacement and other evidence-based products and programs in their provincial drug benefit plans.
4. Employers should recognize and respond to obesity as a chronic disease and provide coverage for evidence-based obesity programs and Health Canada approved treatments for their employees through health benefit plans.
5. Governments and health authorities should increase the availability of interdisciplinary teams and increase their capacity to provide evidence-based obesity management.”(1).

The PEN^® Team will be reviewing the included evidence as it relates to existing content.

References

1. Obesity Canada-Obésité Canada. Report Card on Access to Obesity Treatment for Adults in Canada 2019. April 2019. Available from: http://obesitycanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/OC-Report-Card-2019-Eng-F-web.pdf