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Opinion: Policymakers Must Prioritize Access to Innovative Obesity Treatments

Disclaimer: This article was written by Leslie Golden, MD, MPH, in their personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this article are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Endocrinology Advisor or Haymarket Media.

When I started my career practicing family medicine, I was focused on building patient relationships through whole-person care. What I found after I started practicing is that many of the disease states I was most commonly treating, such as high cholesterol, heart disease, and depression, were all related to obesity. What I’ve also learned is that the health care system in the United States is not designed to treat obesity as the disease it is, and millions of Americans suffer the consequences as a result.

While American innovation has fueled the development of safe and effective medications for the treatment of obesity, there is still work to be done to ensure that every patient diagnosed with obesity has access to the care they need and deserve.

In providing coverage of these medicines, Washington would take a significant step in addressing the obesity epidemic and ensuring medical innovations can reach patients to improve health outcomes.

As the Trump Administration aims to “Make America Healthy Again,” it must prioritize solutions that increase access to innovative obesity treatments. Following my early experiences practicing family medicine, I shifted my focus to working with patients who have obesity. This is a misunderstood disease, even by patients themselves. Many of my patients struggle with their own internalized stigma and feel that they don’t deserve treatment. Despite this, obesity has long been recognized as a chronic disease by institutions such as the American Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization.^1-3

By 2030, experts estimate that approximately 50% of Americans will be living with obesity.⁴ In 2021, over two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries were affected by obesity.⁵ Additionally, obesity costs the US almost $173 billion per year, putting a strain on our health care system and patients who are living with the disease and the challenges that come with it in all aspects of their life.²

As a physician, I have multiple tools in my kit to help support my patients who are managing obesity, such as nutrition plans and behavioral therapies. Their goals often take place off the scale: being able to walk comfortably to their mailbox or up the stairs, feeling confident at the gym, and spending quality time with family and friends. Even as obesity medications became more readily available, access to these treatments influenced the trajectory of many of my patients’ lives.

Unfortunately, I saw this progress come to a halt when some of my patients aged and transitioned into Medicare, which currently does not cover obesity medications due to an outdated policy. I have seen patients delay retirement, skip taking their other prescription drugs, or even stop taking glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) medications altogether because of this policy.

Medical innovations to improve obesity care have proven incredible for patients across the country — but these treatments can only make an impact if patients can access them. While the Trump Administration did not implement a proposed Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rule earlier this year that would have expanded access to obesity treatments, an agency spokesperson stated that it may consider a policy change in the future after further review.⁶

In Congress, US Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) reintroduced the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act (TROA), bipartisan legislation that would directly provide Medicare beneficiaries with access to safe and effective obesity treatment tools.⁷ In providing coverage of these medicines, Washington would take a significant step in addressing the obesity epidemic and ensuring medical innovations can reach patients to improve health outcomes.

With millions of Americans living with obesity,² it’s likely that each of us has been touched by this disease in some way. I encourage policymakers in Washington to continue building on the momentum in the obesity treatment and care space and expand access to treatments that have the potential to change the course of this disease.

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