Research
Energy balance
The policy change of covering anti-obesity medications is likely to increase Medicare costs by low to middle tens of billions of dollars over ten years.
Practitioners should prepare for the potential long-term financial impact of Medicare's coverage of anti-obesity medications.
StrongSupportsmedium confidence
These results are consistent with this policy change likely increasing Medicare costs by the low to middle tens of billions of dollars over ten years.
Why this rating
The claim is based on an analysis of projected costs over a decade.
Source
Expanding Medicare Coverage Of Anti-Obesity Medicines Could Increase Annual Spending By $3.1 Billion To $6.1 Billion
Benedic Ippolito et al. · Health Affairs · 2024
DOI 10.1377/hlthaff.2024.00356
otherCited 12×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Allowing Medicare coverage of anti-obesity medications could increase annual Part D costs by $3.1 billion or $6.1 billion depending on the percentage of newly eligible patients prescribed the drugs.Strong
- The marginal costs of Medicare coverage for anti-obesity drugs could decrease by up to 62.5% if products are approved for additional indications.Strong
Related findings · Energy balance
- Achieving a total body weight loss of 10-15% (or >10-15 kg) through Total Diet Replacement (TDR) induces remission of Type 2 Diabetes in individuals with short-duration disease.Strong
- Bariatric surgery is superior to medical management alone for inducing significant long-term weight loss, remission of type 2 diabetes, and reduction in mortality for patients with BMI ≥ 40 or ≥ 35 with comorbidities.Strong
- Achieving type 2 diabetes remission requires significant weight loss (≥15 kg) via major caloric restriction, independent of macronutrient composition.Strong
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