Medicare's Prohibition on New Obesity Drugs Under Fire

As obesity rates rise, lawmakers and pharmaceutical companies push for change despite potential high costs.

New obesity drugs Wegovy and Zepbound are showing promising results but remain out of reach for millions of older Americans as Medicare is forbidden to cover such medications.
Lawmakers are pushing to change a decades-old law that prohibits Medicare from paying for new weight loss drugs, arguing that the U.S. cannot afford to keep it in place as obesity rates rise among older adults.
Research shows that the initial cost of covering these drugs could drain Medicare’s already shaky bank account, with a Vanderbilt University analysis estimating an annual price of about $26 billion if just 10% of Medicare’s enrollees were prescribed the medication.
Other research suggests that covering the drugs could save the government billions, even trillions over many years, by reducing some of the chronic conditions and problems that stem from obesity.
Pharmaceutical companies are preparing for a lobbying blitz next year to push for Medicare coverage of these drugs, with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly already spending millions on lobbying efforts.