The burden of obesity weighs on all of us Hispanics

The Hispanic community is confronting a dire epidemic that impacts nearly half of our population, is destroying our health, inflicts emotional pain on caretakers and family members, and burdens us with millions of dollars in health care costs.

Reversing the troubling trend of the rising number of Hispanics living with the disease of obesity is a goal we must prioritize. Improving our community’s unhealthy trajectory requires clinical interventions, policy updates, and access to a continuum of obesity care to improve individual and public health.

In a country of over 60 million Hispanics, the CDC reports approximately 44.8% of Hispanic adults in the U.S. live with obesity, the second-highest when compared to other ethnic or racial minority groups. Among Hispanic women it is even worse: 78.8% are overweight or live with obesity. Obesity is a chronic disease with numerous comorbidities from type 2 diabetes to cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, various cancers, and more.

As one of the fastest-growing segments of the American population, several factors contribute to obesity rates being higher in the Hispanic community including, lack of access to affordable healthy foods, lack of education and awareness about nutrition, safe places to exercise, and for children to play, stable and affordable housing, and access to quality health care.

There are significant gaps in health care access where insured obesity care coverage could help diagnose, treat, and reduce the prevalence of the disease. Unfortunately, our healthcare system is set up to treat people for complications related to obesity, instead of trying to prevent those complications in the first place.

In some cases, insurance coverage for obesity-related treatment doesn’t kick in until a person is diagnosed with obesity-related comorbidities, like type 2 diabetes. The system waits until you have a preventable disease, then covers your treatment rather than preventing it in the first place.

Our vision is for equitable health care coverage and access to lifesaving supports like obesity-trained physicians, intensive behavioral therapy (IBT), FDA-approved anti-obesity medications (AOMs), dieticians, and exercise. Bringing these desperately needed interventions within reach of the people who need them most is critical to preventing illness.

The Hispanic community, and all communities of color, must have access to health care coverage that supports access to obesity care.

Passage of the bipartisan Treat and Reduce Obesity Act (TROA) would allow a continuum of care for obesity to be available to patients before the disease reaches a critical stage. Similarly, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) must modernize its outdated policies to include anti-obesity treatments as part of its responsible investment in the health of millions of Americans, including Hispanics.

LULAC, NHMA, and NHCOA call on all federal and state legislators and agencies, health insurance providers, health systems large and small, and community leaders, to make sure every Hispanic person and all Americans have a chance for a healthier life by doing everything we can to reverse the obesity epidemic together.

In the battle against chronic diseases, reducing the prevalence of obesity is vital. However, as the U.S. population of Hispanics grows and matures, the health problems caused by obesity and the costs of preventable obesity-related care will overburden patients, health care providers, and any insurance plan that fails to invest now for our healthier future.

There is no time to waste for the health and well-being of our community: we must urge Congress to pass TROA as a major first step in the right direction.

Sindy Benavides is CEO, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC); Dr. Elena Rios is President and CEO, National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) and Dr. Yanira Cruz, is President and CEO of the National Hispanic Council on Aging (NHCOA).