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Based on information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, an estimated 70 percent of Americans have obesity or are overweight, which is associated with leading causes of death, including heart disease, stroke and diabetes as well as being linked to certain types of cancer.
Effective medications are now available to treat obesity, but access to these treatments is often limited by cost. Congress must step in and pass legislation to ensure that Medicare covers these life-saving medications, such as Wegovy, Mounjaro, and other GLP-1 drugs. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is not moving forward with this rule on its own, and legislative action is needed to make these treatments accessible to those who need them most.
Nearly one in three Maine people experience obesity. As an aging, rural state, providing coverage through Medicare for anti-obesity medicines is the right health care policy and the best fiscal policy.
Data collected by the University of Maine School of Economics estimates that obesity costs Maine more than $452 million a year. In the time since that study, the impacts have only grown, along with the costs in terms of dollars and lives lost.
Members of Maine’s congressional delegation, particularly Sen. Susan Collins as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, are positioned to support this legislation and to help Maine seniors improve their health and live better, longer lives.
We shouldn’t hamstring those efforts through short-sighted policies that deny seniors access to medicines that are safe and effective.
Kayla Parsons
Unity