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Medicare starts covering GLP-1 drugs for weight loss

washingtonpost.com · Read Story HN original

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GLP-1s will cost $50 / month for those eligible.

To be eligible, you need either a BMI of >=35, or a BMI of >=27 and a set of specific health conditions (uncontrolled hypertension, chronic kidney disease, pre-diabetes, etc). You also can't be qualified for GLP-1s under Medicare's previous Part D coverage.

In practice these criteria are narrower than they look. Of the 13 million Medicare beneficiaries with overweight or obesity, about 4 million actually qualify, because most are excluded for already having a diagnosis, like type 2 diabetes or sleep apnea, that covers a GLP-1 another way.

yeah i mean, it would massively improve the total cost of care for a massive amount of people. it should probably be expanded, a lot, to save a ton more money in the long run.