Another Program/App to Help Me Lose Weight. Another Mandate. Another Time Suck That Doesn't Work.

One more hoop to jump through to get access to effective weight loss medications. It is one big chess game, and we are the pawns.

Oh, no Mr. Bill! Here he goes again!

It is a rainy Saturday morning on vacation, looking forward to a quiet day of nothingness, taking some time to read and relax. No writing today, Dr. Len!!!

Nope. Not me. I am pissed and I can’t hold myself back from venting—just because I can!

What set me off was one of those incessant emails telling me I had to sign up for another app to help me with my weight loss effort. However, this one carried its own weight: it came from my wife’s employer who pays for my weight loss medication. The underlying message: Use it or lose it.

I don’t need another app and another “provider” (I HATE that word!) to help me with my weight loss journey, especially when that app and that provider won’t make a damn bit of difference to me or almost anyone else’s weight loss.

I don’t care what data they have jerry-rigged to make the program look good: these programs simply don’t work, except to take money from one organization/company and put the money into the hands of another organization/company with me as the pawn/dupe in the exchange.

Nope, that app and that provider will be another time suck that I don’t want, I don’t need, and I know won’t make a genuine difference for almost anyone who uses it including me.

I don’t care what kind of data they are going to show me: DECADES of studies and experience by dedicated researchers and health professionals (who were professionals before they became “providers”) have proven that inconvenient truth time and again. This nation has the weight gain to show for it.

The only folks who are going to gain from this activity are the company sponsoring the app and the company that uses them who can delay or deter folks who need medication that will help them from getting that medication.

I wrote my newfound friends a message making my own request. Here is the message. I will let you know at a future date what the response is. I already have a good idea!

(Please pardon the snark. I can’t help myself sometimes. I really don’t have that large an ego to think I know as much as I think know. I have just lived the dream!)

Meanwhile, about a year ago I participated in an international discussion with a group of like-minded digital health folks. The focus? A program just like this one that had been promoted to the British National Health Service as a solution to dampening the demand for GLP-1 drugs. The app and the program were designed to help people lose weight the hard way: diet and exercise with coaching. Not that diet and exercise are bad things: they do work for some folks.

Digital health folks can be interesting. They (we?) share a common philosophy and goal that digital tools can make a difference. The problem is that a lot of these programs don’t have robust research over long time frames to prove they work. Some may have benefit; most don’t. Just claims that their program is the next best thing to solving the health care crisis. We now have a lot of apps; we also still have a lot of crisis.

The fellow travelers on that call were enthralled at the promise of this program. I was the skunk at the party, and my underwhelming enthusiasm wasn’t well received—especially by those who were promoting their program. But facts are facts and should not be ignored. Moving to a more modern platform isn’t going to erase fundamental human nature or experience.

Remember the mantra: Nature will almost always beat nature when it comes to losing weight long term.

So, at the peril of personal consequence, I have posted their message and my response above. I can only wait to see the repercussions!!!!

Why am I so angry about all of this nonsense?

· I am angry because I know its motivation, which is primarily saving money through denial of service for the “clients” and making money for the perpetrators. (How do I know? Because previously I was in that business. Really! I have seen it up close and personal).

· I am angry because many of you have already met the criteria to receive the medicine, and your clinician wants to prescribe it—but you can’t get it because your insurance won’t cover it.

· I am angry because I have been through this type of “help” program many times before—and failed.

· I am angry because these “systems” don’t work long term for almost anyone. Not only don’t they work, but they end up in difficult financial constraints or bankruptcy as proof of their failure (need names???? There are plenty out there.)

· I am angry because it is one more barrier being put in the way of people getting some help they desperately need.

· I am angry because it will have me taking more time to fill out more forms and talk with more people offering me more “motivation” to eat less, eat better, and exercise more—something I have done literally for decades without much success and continue to do today, almost to a fault.

· I am angry because we know (yes, we KNOW!!!!) these programs work for some and not for most.

· I am angry because we have a solution that—along with coaching—can make a difference for more folks. It’s just not the solution your company or insurance wants you to have.

· I am angry because this is all about cost, although I am comfortable in asserting that you and I have no idea what that cost really is because of intense obfuscation (think “PBM” and silent deals).

· I am angry because gathering evidence suggests the impact of the medications on weight loss and other disease mechanisms result in incredible reductions in the subsequent costs of overall medical care.

· I am angry because there are hardworking folks out there with limited means who would benefit from these medications but can’t get them for a variety of reasons. (Why is it that folks of more means have less difficulty? Do I really need to tell you?????)

Want more? Need more? Because there is more—but I don’t want to bore you more.

Most of you probably have had similar experiences (barriers) getting the GLP-1 medication you and your clinician have already determined that you need. One more hoop to jump through is something we don’t need.

The bottom line is I am not a happy camper and am in rebellion. I have no doubt in this age of retribution I will be rebuted (is there such a word)?

But I have a blog where I share experiences which although are personal are likely shared by many others. I can let you know you are not alone in these battles.

Whether any of this will make any difference to anyone is unknown. However, there may be some solace and satisfaction in knowing that we are all being played for suckers in the same chess game—thousands of us for this one, maybe more.

Perhaps there is some comfort in numbers. Whether we can do anything about it is doubtful.

Sometimes rage against the machine just, well, feels good!