Obesity Canada maps five gaps in care as health ministers gather in Winnipeg
Obesity Canada released a national benchmark report finding that access to obesity care in Canada is shaped by geography, income, benefits coverage, local resources and experiences of weight bias in healthcare.
The State of Obesity Care in Canada was issued ahead of the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Health Ministers' meeting in Winnipeg, and identifies five gaps: measurement, primary care access, surgical access, medication coverage and psychological care.
Ian Patton, director of advocacy and public engagement at Edmonton-based Obesity Canada, said in the release accompanying the report that obesity is "a complex chronic disease, not a failure of willpower."
Patton said governments need to recognize, measure, and fund obesity care in ways that reflect the evidence.
Approximately 30 percent of Canadian adults are living with obesity, based on current BMI-based definitions, and obesity is associated with more than 200 other health conditions, the report states, citing Statistics Canada and a 2025 paper in Lancet Diabetes Endocrinology.
Research published in BMC Public Health, cited in both the report and the release, estimates the cost of inaction in treating obesity reached $27.6bn in 2023, split between $5.9bn in direct healthcare costs and $21.7bn in broader economic costs.
Fewer than 20 percent of Canadians with private drug benefit plans have access to Health Canada-approved obesity medications.
Health Canada had approved six medications for obesity management as of November 2025, and the report states those medications are not routinely covered through provincial or territorial formularies for the treatment of obesity alone, with public coverage in some cases available only when a person meets additional criteria such as an established obesity-related complication.
Canada's Drug Agency recommended limited reimbursement for semaglutide for some adults with established cardiovascular disease in July 2025.
As of July 31, the report states, CDA had not recommended reimbursement for any obesity medication when obesity is the sole indication.
Independent drug utilization data from IQVIA, cited in the report, show the number of Canadians receiving medication treatment for obesity rose from approximately 94,000 in 2020 to more than 675,000 in 2024, an increase of roughly 620 percent over four years.
Prescriptions grew from approximately 350,000 to more than 3.4 million over the same period, with nearly 87 percent written in primary care.
Figures the report attributes to Leger put the share of Canadians living with obesity who received pharmacotherapy in 2024 at an estimated 8.4 percent.
According to a contributor statement published in the report, every insurer asks for something different and nearly all rely on BMI.
Pharmacist Khalid Bhatti said coverage criteria should reflect clinical guidelines, the product monograph, waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio, comorbid conditions, and the patient's clinical picture.
Allied health services are not publicly covered or are not available within primary care teams in many jurisdictions, the report states, and people may be expected to pay out of pocket or rely on private benefits.
It describes psychological and behavioural care as inconsistently funded and poorly measured, with people left to pay privately, rely on benefits, or find support that is not specialized for obesity care.
"Evidence-based obesity care has to include psychological and mental health support, not as an optional add-on, but as an essential part of the care people need," Sanjeev Sockalingam, scientific director at Obesity Canada, said in the report.
The report sets out six recommendations on obesity.
- Formally recognize it as a chronic disease across policy and systems
- Modernize measurement and surveillance
- Build care into primary care and chronic disease pathways
- Scale education and practical tools for healthcare professionals
- Fund comprehensive, evidence-based care
- Invest in weight-bias reduction across healthcare, policy, and public systems
The funding recommendation states that public and private payers should recognize comprehensive obesity care as part of chronic disease management, including coverage for allied health professionals, psychological and behavioural supports, obesity medications, metabolic bariatric surgery pathways and appropriate ongoing follow-up.
