Trump Can Make Weight-Loss Drugs More Affordable
He should use Medicare’s power to negotiate a better price.
Let’s make a deal.
Photographer: Tom Brenner/The Washington Post/Getty Images
President Joe Biden wants Medicare and Medicaid to cover weight-loss drugs, a proposal that would expand access to the costly but life-changing medications for millions of people who struggle with obesity. It’s a good idea that Donald Trump should pursue when he’s in office.
Medicare, which provides health care for more than 65 million seniors, is statutorily prohibited from covering weight-loss medications. Two decades ago, when Congress created the Part D benefit that pays for prescription drugs, obesity wasn’t yet recognized as a disease. Some of the weight-loss drugs on the market weren’t very effective, and others were dangerous. Today, obesity is more commonly understood to be a chronic condition that affects more than 40% of the US population. Medicaid, for its part, is already allowed to cover weight-loss drugs; Biden wants to require it.