Obesity is a major cause of any number of serious chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, osteoarthritis, and certain cancers.
As a result, obesity costs America’s health system a whopping $173 billion a year.
In an interview this month, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., appeared open to the idea of Medicare covering drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy for beneficiaries with obesity.
“Ideally, over the long term, we’d like to see . . . those drugs available for people after they try other interventions,” he said.
Delaying coverage of these breakthrough weight-loss medications is not the right approach. America’s epidemic of obesity poses an urgent threat not just to public health but to our health system and long-term prosperity.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
Delaying Coverage of Weight-loss Meds Won’t Cure Obesity
Sally C. Pipes
Obesity is a major cause of any number of serious chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, osteoarthritis, and certain cancers.
As a result, obesity costs America’s health system a whopping $173 billion a year.
In an interview this month, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., appeared open to the idea of Medicare covering drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy for beneficiaries with obesity.
“Ideally, over the long term, we’d like to see . . . those drugs available for people after they try other interventions,” he said.
Delaying coverage of these breakthrough weight-loss medications is not the right approach. America’s epidemic of obesity poses an urgent threat not just to public health but to our health system and long-term prosperity.
Read the op-ed here.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.