Health Committee Testimony
Obesity, Diabetes, and COVID-19 - Three Epidemics Converge
Bob Babbage, Babbage Cofounder, stated that COVID-19 does not cause obesity or diabetes and that obesity or diabetes does not COVID-19 but the converging of these conditions is proving to be more deadly than imagined. Rebecca Hartsough, Ph.D., Policy Director, Babbage Cofounder, stated that in May, New York doctors began noticing the elevated risks associated with obesity. Obese individuals had a 46 percent increased risk of testing positive for COVID-19. People with a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30 are at a greater risk of contracting the virus, being hospitalized, needing intensive care, and dying. Obesity is associated with hyper inflammation and shortness of breath, making immune responses more difficult. Coronavirus enters the body through an enzyme found in cells that line the lungs and fat tissue. The virus has an easier job replicating itself in patients with obesity because there are more targets. In multiple studies, immune cells examined from 30-year-old people with obesity looked like immune cells found in 80-yearold people. Julie Babbage, National Executive Director, Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition, stated that approximately 107 million people, over 42 percent, of the United States’ adult population is obese. She stated that chronic conditions put people at greater risk of illness and death. Kentucky has a significant population that falls into the obese category. In August, the CDC expanded its definition of elevated risk for severe COVID-19 to include individuals with a BMI greater than 25. This expansion means that up to 72 percent of all Americans are at high risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes. She stated that 37 percent of Kentucky adults are obese. Kentucky ranks number one in the United States for childhood obesity. Kentucky Diabetes Ranking is the fifth worst nationally. Since 1990, obesity in Kentucky increased over 200 percent. Since 2000, diagnosed diabetes in Kentucky doubled. The medical costs for people who have obesity is 42 percent higher than those of normal weight. During the pandemic, chronic diseases have the potential to gain new attention.
Mr. Babbage stated that Medicare and Medicaid do not allow adequate access for anti-obesity medications that can help individuals lose body weight. Individuals on Medicare and Medicaid may have some access to nutritional counseling or bariatric surgery but not the medications that may help to avoid the surgery. Weight loss medications must be tied to another condition and deemed necessary by the doctor to be covered by Medicaid. Medicare Part D was created in 2003 when the drugs and treatments had not been created to treat and reduce obesity. He stated that to add the drugs and treatments for obesity into the Part D program would make a tremendous difference in the cost of human suffering. There are also other treatments in process that seem promising to help fight against obesity.
Excerpted from the Kentucky House Health & Welfare Committee Minutes (October 28, 2020). Source: Kentucky Legislature.
