Gross Medicare Spending on Ozempic and Other GLP-1s Is Already Skyrocketing – Even Though Medicare Cannot Cover The Drugs for Weight Loss

(By Chris Lee for The Kaiser Family Foundation published March 23, 2024)

A KFF analysis shows that gross total Medicare spending on Ozempic and other similar drugs has increased dramatically in recent years – even though Medicare is explicitly prohibited by law from covering the drugs for obesity.

That’s because Medicare now covers the drugs, known as GLP-1s, for other medically accepted indications, including to treat diabetes. This week the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) informed Medicare drug plans that they can cover Wegovy, another drug in this class, for its newly approved use of preventing heart attacks and strokes for people who are obese or overweight. Continue reading here…

Notice: The link provided above connects readers to the full content of the posted article. The URL (internet address) for this link is valid on the posted date; medicarereport.org cannot guarantee the duration of the link’s validity. Also, the opinions expressed in these postings are the viewpoints of the original source and are not explicitly endorsed by AMAC, Inc.; the AMAC Foundation, Inc.; or medicarereport.org