Boxes of the diabetes drug Ozempic are seen on a pharmacy counter in Los Angeles, California. Under the Medicare and Medicaid insurance plans, medications like Ozempic are primarily available to overweight individuals with diabetes or heart disease.
The outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden proposed on Tuesday to expand access to weight-loss drugs for millions of Americans under the country's extensive public health insurance program. Currently, under Medicare and Medicaid, drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy are mostly restricted to overweight people with diabetes or heart disease. However, the White House announced that Biden aims to make these drugs more widely available as a treatment for obesity itself, potentially covering nearly 7.5 million older and lower-income Americans.
"For too many Americans, these critical treatments are too expensive and therefore out of reach," stated a White House official, highlighting that 42% of Americans are obese. Over 60 million people in the United States, predominantly those over 65, depend on Medicare for their health insurance. Additionally, 85 million individuals are eligible for some assistance through Medicaid, which focuses on lower-income residents. However, the future of this plan remains uncertain as Donald Trump is expected to return to the White House in January, potentially targeting healthcare budgets as part of an effort to reduce US government spending.
Last week, Trump appointed celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz to head Medicare and Medicaid, stating that Oz would "cut waste and fraud" in what he termed "our Country's most expensive Government Agency." Biden's push to expand coverage for anti-obesity drugs is part of a broader initiative during his single term in office to reduce the high cost of prescription medicines in the US. In July, Biden urged pharmaceutical giants Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to lower prices for diabetes and weight loss drugs like Ozempic, arguing that firms must stop "ripping off the American people." His success in pressuring US pharmaceutical companies to reduce the prices of certain medications became a cornerstone of his reelection campaign before he withdrew in July.
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