The course of care for children aged 3 to 12 who are overweight, obese, or at risk of becoming so will be reimbursed 100% by Health Insurance.
- Children aged 3 to 12 who are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight can benefit from early treatment reimbursed at 100% by the Health Insurance.
- The device prescribed by a doctor is based on dietary and activity assessments as well as nutritional and psychological monitoring sessions.
- The WHO, for its part, is considering adding treatments for obesity to the list of essential medicines.
According to a study by Public Health France published in 2022, the proportion of obese children almost doubled between the 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 school years, going from 2.8% to 4.6%. Cases of overweight also increased from 8.9% to 11.2%. Faced with these worrying figures, the Health Insurance offers free early and multidimensional care for children aged 3 to 12 suffering from overweight.
Obesity: 100% reimbursed care for overweight children
The system called “Mission Retrouve Ton Cap” – tested since 2018 in Seine-Saint-Denis, Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Reunion – is now deployed throughout France through 228 houses multi-professional health centers and 33 health centres. It is based on three assessments (dietary, physical and/or psychological activity) as well as a sequence of 6 nutritional and/or psychological follow-up sessions, renewable twice if necessary (i.e. 18 sessions maximum in total).
This program lasts two years and takes place within the same health structure. The young patient and his family circle will meet professionals (dietician, psychologist, masseur-physiotherapist, psychomotor therapist) who “will help them in particular to make lasting changes to their eating and physical activity habits”specifies the social security statement.
Treatment aimed at children who are overweight or in a situation of non-complex obesity, and/or who present warning signs on their corpulence curve, must be prescribed by the general practitioner or the school doctor. “The number of children who are overweight or obese has steadily increased over the past decade, and this trend is concerning because of the long-term consequences on their health (diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc.) as well as the resulting excess mortality”explains the Health Insurance.
WHO may declare obesity drugs ‘essential’
Social Security is not the only one concerned about the growing number of cases of obesity on all continents. The World Health Organization (WHO) revealed to the news agency Reuters that it was considering including treatments for obesity in the list of essential medicines. This document is used to guide purchasing decisions by governments in low- and middle-income countries.
Its experts are expected to study the possibility of including liraglutide, an antidiabetic used in the United States as a treatment for obese people even if they do not suffer from diabetes, next month. The update of the list of essential medicines is expected for September.
However, this project raises questions within the agency. Dr. Francesco Blanca, WHO Director for Nutrition and Food Safety, said on March 29: “There are issues related to the cost of treatment. At the same time, the WHO is looking at the use of drugs to reduce excess weight as part of a systematic review of guidelines for children and adolescents. We think So it’s a work in progress. We’ll see what the Essential Medicines List committee concludes.”
