The incoming administration of thugs and thieves will have to approve this, so I wouldn’t get my hopes up just yet. But it makes sense to get obesity under control before it creates diseases like diabetes — which is now required before Medicare will cover the drugs. Via the New York Times:
The Biden administration, in one of its last major policy directives, will propose that Medicare and Medicaid cover obesity medications, a costly and probably popular move that the Trump administration would need to endorse to become official.
The proposal would extend access of the drugs to millions of Americans who aren’t covered now.
The new obesity drugs, including Wegovy from Novo Nordisk and Zepbound from Eli Lilly, have been shown to improve health in numerous ways, but legislation passed 20 years ago prevents Medicare from covering drugs for “weight loss.”
The new proposal sidesteps that restriction, specifying that the drugs would be covered to treat the disease of obesity and prevent its related conditions.
Of course, Bob Kennedy has suggested that obesity should be tackled through healthy eating, not drugs.
“If we just gave good food, three meals a day, to every man, woman and child in our country, we could solve the obesity and diabetes epidemic overnight,” Mr. Kennedy said on Fox News before the election.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, Mr. Trump’s choice to lead C.M.S., has been more enthusiastic; he featured patients who took the drugs on his old television talk show. Dr. Oz’s portfolio would include Medicare and Medicaid policy, but he would report to Mr. Kennedy.
Given Mr. Kennedy’s skepticism, and the new drugs’ potentially large cost, Trump officials might not have proposed a coverage requirement. But they may now face pressure to approve it.
