( The Hill The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) declared on Friday that they will not finalize a regulation introduced by the Biden administration. This rule would have provided Medicare and Medicaid recipients with access to weight-loss medicines like the much-sought-after GLP-1 drugs.
Last November, the Biden administration proposed a new rule This change would enable medications such as Wegovy and Zepbound to be included under Medicare and Medicaid coverage, thereby increasing accessibility for approximately 3.4 million Medicare beneficiaries and around 4 million Medicaid participants.
However, in an announcement released on Friday, CMS stated that they would not be finalizing this proposed rule, offering no additional information.
Medicare covers GLP-1 medications when they are prescribed for conditions such as diabetes and heart disease; however, laws enacted in 2003 prevent Medicare from covering these drugs specifically for weight loss purposes.
Bipartisan efforts in Congress aim to have anti-obesity medications and services included under coverage via the Treat andReduceObesityAct(TROA). However, this initiative did not progress during the previous Congressional session.
As per the Biden administration’s plan, individuals who are either senior citizens or have lower incomes and possess a body mass index of 30 or above would have been eligible for coverage of these medications.
The Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has previously denounced GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic. He asserted in various interviews that these drugs are being aggressively marketed to Americans by international corporations that do not offer them in their own markets.
Kennedy has shifted his focus towards adopting lifestyle modifications to tackle obesity, even so. told CNBC Last year, GLP-1s were recognized as having a role in addressing this condition. Recently appointed CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz has spoke positively about GLP-1 medications , previously stating on social media that the advantages provided by these medications are "substantial."
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