A mixture image shows an injection pen of Zepbound, Eli Lilly’s weight reduction drug, and boxes of Wegovy, made by Novo Nordisk.
Reuters
President Donald Trump on Friday dropped a Biden administration proposal to have Medicare cover obesity drugs, including popular but costly GLP-1 treatments corresponding to Novo Nordisk‘s Wegovy and Eli Lilly‘s Zepbound.
However the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it might reconsider coverage of those drugs in the long run, in keeping with a fact sheet on the rule.
The proposal would have given thousands and thousands more Americans access to those drugs, but would have cost the federal government billions. Many health plans, including Medicare, don’t currently cover weight reduction treatments, and a few patients simply cannot afford their hefty price tags before insurance.
Wegovy and Zepbound each cost roughly $1,000 before insurance and other rebates. Allowing Medicare to cover those drugs and other weight reduction medications could cost $35 billion over nine years, a congressional evaluation found.
Under the Biden administration’s proposal, only those that are considered obese — someone who has a body mass index of 30 or higher — would qualify for coverage. Some people may already get coverage of the drugs through Medicare or Medicaid in the event that they have diabetes or are in danger for stroke or heart disease.
The rule wasn’t finalized before Trump took office.
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
Shares of Lilly fell greater than 2% in prolonged trading, while Novo Nordisk’s stock dropped greater than 1%.
