A leading group of private hospitals has called on private health insurance companies to offer treatment for obesity.

Spire Healthcare has said that insurers should offer gastric banding and gastric bypass operations to obese patients. Clinical Services Director for the group, Jean-Jacques de Gorter, has said to leading health insurance providers that they should make the treatments available to patients covered under PMI policies; "There are a growing number of patients being treated with weight-loss surgery and currently they are either self-funded or paid for by the NHS. We believe that the private healthcare industry is missing an opportunity to differentiate itself by extending PMI cover to include funding of weight loss surgery. This would have the double benefit of both extending the value of PMI to insured patients and helping manage the risk of excessive healthcare costs arising from the consequences of obesity."

Research has shown that the procedures can be beneficial both psychologically and physically and can help cure diseases such as type II diabetes.