It’s time to drop the blame game about obesity and welcome the news that medications have been developed to treat it.
For too long, U.S. marketers, health insurance companies and pharmaceuticals have conspired to shortchange the obese by denying them effective treatment while saddling them with untold guilt.
An estimated 42% of American adults are considered obese and have at least one other co-morbidity such as heart disease, diabetes, the risk of strokes and various kinds of cancers.
For most, it’s a chronic disease begun in early life for any number of reasons: genetics, a life of poverty that prevents a proper diet and creates food insecurity, or other medical conditions that interfere with their body’s proper process of nutrients.
It doesn’t matter why or how someone came into this state, but rather what they can do about it. Because it’s making us an unhealthy — and unhappy — country.
If obesity were only about squeezing into your favorite jeans, the argument for making these new weight-loss medications more widely available and affordable would be frivolous.
Obesity affects how children adjust to and perform in school. For adults, it affects relationships and employment opportunities. It stresses the heart, inhibits blood circulation and puts undue weight on our bones, robbing us of energy. Of our potential.
Obesity adversely impacts lives, and the news that medications can now effectively and safely help patients lose a significant amount of weight over a sustained period should be recognized as a game-changer for society.
AS IS, the medications are horrendously expensive for Americans, keeping them out of reach for most. The current drugs on the market cost more than $1,000 a month, several times higher than in other countries.
Unless pressured, pharmaceuticals will not lower their costs.
The federal government wields the biggest hammer, and, fortunately, it’s begun to wield it.
Last year’s Inflation Reduction Act gave Congress the power to negotiate drug prices directly with drug makers. On Aug. 29, the Biden administration announced the first 10 drugs, which centered on treating heart disease, certain cancers, diabetes and autoimmune diseases.
The new pricing becomes effective in 2026, after which another 15 drugs in 2027 and 2028 will be approved.
The program is expected to save Medicare $98.5 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Such savings are key to the program’s sustainability.
Also in the works is the bipartisan Treat and Reduce Obesity Act, which would expand Medicare Part D coverage of the approved weight-loss drugs. Passing the act would not only provide the needed medications but also spur private insurers to strike deals with the drug makers for the new medications.
