*First of all, let me make it perfectly clear that this post is not a slam on people who choose to smoke marijuana*

I have recently been interested in the driving forces surrounding the stigma of WLS. I was doing some research on which states exclude WLS as part of their ACA insurance exchange programs. My state is one of them and that is why I ended up going to Mexico for my VSG (great decision, BTW!). What I was surprised was to see that Colorado is on that list. So in other words, the wise elected officials in Colorado feel that marijuana is a medical necessity, but helping it's citizens to lose weight is not. Neither WLS or weight loss programs are covered. And as "open minded" as marijuana supporters may appear to be, they also don't cover acupuncture.

Does this mean the potheads are better organized and have more savvy political skills than us fatties? (And this last sentence is meant to be a joke...Please don't construe it as name calling and I apologize if I anyone found it offensive)

I like your sense of humor. The pot industry IS well organized. Travel guru Rick Steves helped get the votes here in Seattle, and I was persuaded to vote yes to legalize to reduce crime, bring in public revenue, save billions on enforcement, etc. etc. Also, my sister really needs it for pain management, and now she can stop freaking out when the doorbell rings.
I noticed that our local Jack in the Box has been advertising a "munchies menu." Maybe junk food sales will go up?
Washington State doesn't cover bariatrics in its insurance exchange, either. We fatties SHOULD organize and persuade states that surgery saves lives, reduces lifetime insurance costs, and (this is the tougher sell) brings in revenue.
What do skinny people spend more on?

Just wait until the pot heads get to fatty status from all the munchies. Then there will be change.

I'm not apologizing if that offended anyone. Get over it. It's a joke.

Edited October 24, 201411 yr by Sleevarilla

Interesting thought.

Just wait until the pot heads get to fatty status from all the munchies. Then there will be change.

I'm not apologizing if that offended anyone. Get over it. It's a joke.

But there's so much truth to this joke though lol and smh.

Um nerd alert response ...

the problem is that everyone I know who has smoked or is smoking is skinny. Alcoholics, they can be skinny even though they eat (drink really) a lot of sugar.

I would suspect the issue has more to do with taxation than anything else. They can earn $$$ in Colorado from pot. You can't earn it (as in show it going directly to state coffers) in terms of WLS. The payment for WLS is like 5 years or more to earn back what you paid for it (used to be 2, this is another study done more recently). Pot is going to get more in the coffers in terms of taxes that you can measure, its quicker, and you can invite people from the surrounding states for it.

Remember, this is medicine. Follow the money.

Congrats on your surgery. I don't care where people get it as long as they are healthy and follow up on what they need to. If insurances are rotten and cheesy enough not to see that it helps their bottom lines, then I'm all for people being able to get it safely. I support the mess out of it actually. I personally think it would be worth it to send signed return receipt letters to the heads of the groups saying no and asking what their basis for not saving $$$ are since that's all they care about: the bottom line, its obviously not about health.

Actually, I saw an interesting analysis on the relationship between states that legalize same sex marriage, allow medical marijuana and then allow recreational marijuana. It happens in exactly that order... so... is there a casual relationship or causal?

Proud to be from WA state where love is recognized regardless of orientation and pot is seen as ho hum... bring on the coffee! :0

@@CowgirlJane Could it be a more liberal electorate?

@@CowgirlJane Could it be a more liberal electorate?

Liberals that think we should all be "naturally thin", apparently.

Maybe. That's the only thing I could think of.

This is just based on a quick search but it looks like Colorado ranks in the lowest for obesity percentage and highest for pot smokers. Maybe they are just addressing issues in order of priority to their people? (Not endorsing, just thinking.)

I have recently been interested in the driving forces surrounding the stigma of WLS. I was doing some research on which states exclude WLS as part of their ACA insurance exchange programs. My state is one of them and that is why I ended up going to Mexico for my VSG (great decision, BTW!). What I was surprised was to see that Colorado is on that list. So in other words, the wise elected officials in Colorado feel that marijuana is a medical necessity, but helping it's citizens to lose weight is not. Neither WLS or weight loss programs are covered. And as "open minded" as marijuana supporters may appear to be, they also don't cover acupuncture.

While I understand the point you are trying to make, this argument does not make any sense to me. First of all, neither WLS or other weight loss programs are illegal anywhere in CO. The same is not true of marijuana, cities still can and do prohibit it within their limits.

Second, though WLS is not covered by the ACA in Colorado, neither is marijuana whether for medical or recreational use. In fact, it is not covered in any state, as it is still illegal on a federal level.

Third, the "wise elected officials" did not pass the marijuana measures in Colorado, the voters did that. Have the voters been given the same opportunity to decide what should be covered by the ACA? Maybe if they were, you would discover how "open minded" they really can be.

Last, if marijuana is more of a "medical necessity" than WLS, why is it so heavily taxed? WLS is considered a medical procedure, meaning that not only is it not taxed, it is federally tax deductible as a medical expense. I challenge anyone to legitimately use weed as a tax deduction.

Please don't take this as meaning that I am against WLS being covered, I agree 100% that it should be. I'm simply pointing out that you can't fairly compare apples to oranges. If this is something you feel strongly about, perhaps you should look into what it would take to get it on the ballot. The marijuana movement started because somebody recognized something that they did not feel was right, and started the process to change it.

Just my two cents.

@@SuperDave that is quite interesting. Thanks for bring up what you did. Enjoy listening to all facets. I think its good that we do try to examine all our options.

*First of all, let me make it perfectly clear that this post is not a slam on people who choose to smoke marijuana*

I have recently been interested in the driving forces surrounding the stigma of WLS. I was doing some research on which states exclude WLS as part of their ACA insurance exchange programs. My state is one of them and that is why I ended up going to Mexico for my VSG (great decision, BTW!). What I was surprised was to see that Colorado is on that list. So in other words, the wise elected officials in Colorado feel that marijuana is a medical necessity, but helping it's citizens to lose weight is not. Neither WLS or weight loss programs are covered. And as "open minded" as marijuana supporters may appear to be, they also don't cover acupuncture.

Does this mean the potheads are better organized and have more savvy political skills than us fatties? (And this last sentence is meant to be a joke...Please don't construe it as name calling and I apologize if I anyone found it offensive)

Did you ever think there would be as many of us that would have/had WLS? Can you imagine what would happen if we spread our support and outrage to the insurance companies that are still not covering this procedure? or the plastic surgery after! Do we have our own ribbon for support or day to say hey i did this! Lots of us don't tell friends or family members due to judgement or the thought they could talk us out of it(me included) but if its successful they are happy and want to praise you for it !

We should ROAR!!! and let the whole world and the insurance companies hate us as we band in a united front to get these surgieres covered and not have to run to other countries to do them!! we should have a WLS pride Day and be proud of our bodies!
sorry if I'm ranting had to get it out!

Well, I've been posting at times URL's from educational sources about how bariatric surgery helps. I'd send them to a ton of them if we had that, to show it is worth the $$$.