One of the common themes in health care policy is that if you have good information on outcomes and costs, then covering certain services in advance actually saves money, even if they're pricey in the short-term. According to a new study, among these is gastric bypass surgery. The procedure, which costs around $20,000, actually pays for itself within a mere two-to-four years, at least according to a forthcoming analysis in the American Journal of Managed Care. Of course, it would be yet cheaper if fewer people tipped into obesity in the first place, and so it would be nice to stop subsidizing things like high fructose corn syrup and highways and begin subsidizing healthier foods and more walkable environments (or maybe subsidizing nothing at all -- still a relative improvement!).
