surgery could become futile and could see them return to their previous state of health or weight. Many people believe this will help them digest food a lot quicker, but the surgery does not alter the person’s metabolism it only restricts the capacity of the stomach. This means that patients are not experiencing a shift in their food preferences, “away from sugary or fatty foods”.Part F: Should the cost of gastric banding be covered by Medicare?

There has been a massive debate throughout the years over whether or not Gastric Band surgery should be covered by Medicare. Dr Leibman, avid stakeholder in the current debate, believes that the weight loss surgery should be covered under the national health system for people who fall under the obese and morbidly obese category. The current surgery costs just under $5,000 for the people that can afford it or who “are covered under private health care (Dr Leibman, 2006). It is believed, in the current state, that only hundreds of overweight patients have the surgery in Australia every year, but, if the surgery was available to all patients that are over a certain BMI* (body mass index) the number could increase to hundreds of thousands. Dr Leibman believes that the public perception of this surgery is to look “trim, taut and terrific”, however, the surgery would allow at-risk patients to receive life changing results in both their weight and their health.
Australia’s current population is around 24.13 million, with 53.6% being categorised as overweight and 18% of these people being considered obese. For a person to be considered overweight they need to have a BMI greater than or equal to 35, and for them to be considered obese they need to have a BMI greater or equal to 30, with 18.5 – 24.9 being considered a normal weight. According to the Australian Medical Association, in 2005, it cost the Australian Government $21 billion dollars to deal with obese and overweight adults in “direct health care and direct non-health care costs”. It costs another $35.6 billion in “government subsidies”, with the total amount rising to over $56 billion. Currently, for one person to receive lap band surgery it could cost them around $4,900. To find the total amount it would cost the government to perform lap band surgery on either obese or obese and overweight people, the population of Australia needs to be multiplied by the percentage of overweight people, and again multiplied by the total cost of lap band surgery per person.
Total cost for obese patients to receive Gastric Banding surgery

Total cost for obese and overweight patients to receive Gastric Banding surgery

The cost of surgery for obese and overweight patients outweighs the cost to only deal with only obese patients. It costs the government a total of $56 billion dollars to deal with the issue and $63,375,032,000 to give both obese and overweight patients Land band surgery, and although it would cos