Costing anywhere between $20,000 to $30,000, gastric bypass surgery is not only expensive — it's difficult to meet government requirements to have the surgery funded.
Some Kiwis are dipping into their KiwiSaver accounts to fund the expensive, but life changing, weight loss surgery.
Justine Shera wouldn't have been eligible for government-funded surgery, but she wanted to improve her quality of life and not for reasons to do with vanity.
"I really wanted something different for my life. I realised at the age of 43 that I wasn't able to do a lot of the things or live the way I wanted to," she told Breakfast this morning.
She said the decision had a massive effect on her family and their future because the money is there for the future and retirement.
"I did hear that there was a clause in there that you could get it out [Kiwi Saver] for medical reasons and people were accessing it for their weight loss surgery."
David Schroeder is a retired gastric bypass surgeon who still teaches and mentors in the field.
He told Breakfast the surgery can prolong life and give people a better quality of living.
"If people don't get in through the public system, then they can do it privately. Health insurance companies are variable in terms of what they will pay out — which is still a very small amount," he said.
He added there's a lack of numbers in terms of how many people are resourced to do the complex surgery.
"Lots of people want the surgery, but in the Waikato you can only do about 30."
Schroeder said the Government has increased pay-outs for other operations, but gastric bypass funding hasn't increased in 15 years.
He said some insurance providers won't even cover it.
"They treat people as 2nd rate citizens."
He said the assumption that people are just being lazy and have poor morals isn't why they're finding themselves needing this surgery.
"It's because of an underlying trauma which has led them to be unable to stop themselves.
"The reality is the brain is responding to their trauma by using the one thing that has actually worked to help them survive and that's been food," Schroeder said.
Shera had to change KiwiSaver provider so she could fund her surgery.
She also believes stigma around plus-sized people is a big factor behind why funding is not so easily accessible.
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