By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON In a move that could significantly expand insurance coverage of weight-loss treatments, a federal health advisory panel on Monday recommended that all obese adults receive intensive counseling in an effort to rein in a growing health crisis in America.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force urged doctors to identify patients with a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 or more currently one in three Americans and either provide counseling themselves or refer the patient to a program designed to promote weight loss and improve health prospects.

Under the current health care law, Medicare and most private insurers would be required to cover the entire cost of weight-loss services that meet or exceed the task forces standards.

That could all change Thursday, when the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of President Barack Obamas health care law, which requires adoption of certain strong recommendations from the task force, such as this one on obesity.

Few private health insurers now reimburse physicians for weight-loss counseling or pay for programs that patients seek out on their own. A growing number, in fact, charge obese patients more for coverage - a policy some public health officials have denounced as punitive and ineffective.

The Task Force concluded after a review of the medical literature that the most successful programs in improving patients health are "intensive, multi-component behavioral interventions." They involve 12 to as many as 26 counseling sessions a year with a physician or community-based program, according to the panel.

Successful programs set weight-loss goals, improve knowledge about nutrition, teach patients how track their eating and set limits, identify barriers to change (such as a scarcity of healthful food choices near home) and strategize on ways to maintain lifestyle changes, the panel found.

In some cases, programs include exercise sessions as well.

The recommendation, published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine, does not apply to the roughly one-third of Americans who are considered overweight, those with a BMI from 25 to 29.9.

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Government health care panel wants obese people to undergo counseling