Health Equity and Obesity Care

by Tracy Zvenyach, PhD, MS, RN

Winter 2025

Health inequity is a complicated topic. It happens when some people have a harder time being healthy because they don’t have the same opportunities as others. For example, some people might not have access to healthy food, a nearby healthcare provider or a safe place to exercise and play. That’s not fair, right? Everyone deserves the chance to be healthy.

Health equity means creating fair and equal opportunities for everyone to live their healthiest lives. It involves addressing issues like poverty, discrimination, and unfair policies that create obstacles. These barriers can make it harder for people to get healthcare, go to school, find jobs, or live in safe places. All of these challenges can lead to worse health outcomes.

We often find health inequities in obesity care. Here are some examples:

• Lack of Access: Many people don’t have healthcare providers trained in obesity medicine in their area. People with other common chronic diseases don’t usually face the same geographic challenges.
• Insurance Gaps: Some health insurance plans completely exclude services and benefits for obesity treatments, even though treatments for other chronic diseases are covered.
• Financial Barriers: Many people can’t afford treatment costs because insurance doesn’t cover them, and there are no patient assistance programs to help with financial aid. For other chronic diseases, patient assistance programs are often available to make medications more affordable.
• Unequal Coverage: Health inequity is when one person’s employer provides coverage for obesity treatments, but another person’s doesn’t because they work for a different company.

The Role of Weight Stigma

Weight stigma also drives health inequities. It can impact the quality of care someone receives. Negative attitudes and beliefs from healthcare professionals may lead to poor treatment for people with obesity. This can cause stress, avoidance of care and mistrust of healthcare professionals, which all lead to worse health outcomes. Even with the best intentions, weight stigma reduces the quality of care for patients with obesity.

What is the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) Doing to Help?

The OAC is working hard to improve health equity for people living with obesity.

• Education and Support: OAC provides free resources and a community to help people learn about obesity and find support.
• Advocacy: OAC fights for health policies that give everyone access to obesity care, including Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, and care for veterans and military families.
• Raising Awareness: OAC leads campaigns to stop weight bias and stigma, like the Stop Weight Bias Campaign.
• Tools for Patients: OAC offers tools like an obesity care provider look-up tool where people can find doctors in their area who are trained in obesity care.
• Scholarships: OAC provides scholarship opportunities to attend our in-person events like the Your Weight Matters National Convention, and we’ve expanded our reach with Regional events to bring resources and support closer to communities.
• Collaborations: OAC collaborates with organizations across the United States and around the world, such as the Obesity Care Advocacy Network (OCAN) and the International Obesity Collaborative, to improve access to obesity care.

The Goal of Health Equity

Health equity means that a person’s race, income, gender or location should not determine their health outcomes. Addressing health equity focuses on providing extra support and resources to those facing disadvantages so everyone has an equal opportunity to be their healthiest.

The OAC is committed to improving health equity for individuals with obesity, working to level the playing field so that everyone, regardless of their background or circumstances, can achieve their best health and live full, fulfilling lives.

About the Author:

Tracy Zvenyach, PhD, MS, RN is the Director of Policy Strategy and Alliances at the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC). In this role, she provides leadership in the development and implementation of policy priorities and strategy for OAC and represents OAC in alliances and coalition efforts to advance obesity care. She also serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Georgetown University, where she teaches healthcare policy and advocacy to graduate students.

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