Home » Health » Obesity Treatment Disparities: Wealthy NYC Areas Prescribed More Anti-Obesity Drugs, Reflecting Social Inequality

Obesity Treatment Disparities: Wealthy NYC Areas Prescribed More Anti-Obesity Drugs, Reflecting Social Inequality

Delivery time2023-08-28 03:39

NYT reports citing insurance analysis companies… “Reflection of economic and social inequality”

Mansion on the Upper East Side of New York

[AFP 연합뉴스 자료사진/Getty Images 제공]

(New York = Yonhap News) Correspondent Koh Il-hwan = In New York, the places where obesity drugs such as Ozempic are used the most are found to be in wealthy residential areas with the lowest obesity rates.

The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 27th (local time), citing Trillant, an insurance analysis company in the United States, that 2.3% of residents of the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York, last year were prescribed obesity treatment injections such as Ozempic or Wegobi.

Formerly the residence of New York’s upper class, this area is still famous as a place where the wealthy live.

In particular, it is an area where various indicators related to health as well as education and economic ability are significantly higher than residents of other areas.

According to 2015 statistics, the average life expectancy of residents in the area is 85 years old, the highest in New York. This is 9 years more than the average life expectancy (76 years) in East Harlem, a black residential area bordering the northern border.

Additionally, compared to the 25.4 percent obesity rate in New York as a whole, residents of the Upper East Side only have a 9 percent obesity rate.

In contrast, Southeast Queens, located across the East River, has an obesity rate of 43.4%.

This means that the most prescribed anti-obesity drugs were prescribed in New York’s areas with the lowest rates of obesity and diabetes.

In the case of Brooklyn East New York, where obesity rates are high and diabetes is common, only 1.2%, half of the Upper East Side, were prescribed anti-obesity injections such as Ozempic.

Obesity treatment Ozempic

AFP Yonhap News data photo/Courtesy of Getty Images]

The NYT pointed out that this phenomenon is a result of economic and social inequality being reflected.

Patients in need of anti-obesity drugs are in a situation where they cannot obtain them due to the shortage caused by the sensational popularity of anti-obesity drugs, but the wealthy can easily obtain them.

In addition, it is explained that there is a large gap in access to obesity treatment according to medical insurance.

Medicaid, a public health insurance for low-income people, does not pay insurance money for the use of obesity treatment for the purpose of losing weight, not diabetes treatment in New York.

Dr. Bria Jaisinghani, an obesity specialist at New York University (NYU) Langan Hospital, said, “I hope that people who really need to treat obesity will have more smooth access to medication.”

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