So -- Long Term Public Health Expenses... Will Be Reduced, If CMS/Medicare/Medicaid Covers The Weight Loss Shots. Are You Listening, Dr. Oz/Kennedy?

While I might personally prefer that most Americans exercise more -- and eat less highly-processed fat-laden junk food. . . the economics behind this idea are beyond serious debate: most Americans aren't likely to -- en masse -- change their lifestyles. So the far cheaper route (rather than, say. . . 15 to 25 years of twice a week dialysis, for example) will be to pay for (the bulk of) the cost of the GLP-1 drugs. . . now.

This is smart health care policy making. [I do hope that Kennedy snd Oz recognize this, come late January of 2025.] But as a practical matter, if Mr. Biden is able to start paying for the first month or two, here and now -- there will be no political willpower in January or March 2025, to undo the benefit -- for perhaps 7 million people -- all voters. Nothing prevents CMS from starting to cover this drug -- in the first week of December of this year. Here's the latest:

. . .The Biden administration, in one of its last major policy directives, proposed on Tuesday that Medicare and Medicaid cover obesity medications, a costly and probably popular move that the Trump administration would need to endorse to become official.

The proposal would extend access of the drugs to millions of Americans who aren’t covered now.

The new obesity drugs, including Wegovy from Novo Nordisk and Zepbound from Eli Lilly, have been shown to improve health in numerous ways, but legislation passed 20 years ago prevents Medicare from covering drugs for “weight loss.”

The new proposal sidesteps that restriction, specifying that the drugs would be covered to treat the disease of obesity and prevent its related conditions.

“We don’t want to see people having to wait until they have these additional diseases before they get treatment,” said Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or C.M.S., noting the growing medical consensus that obesity is a chronic health condition. . . .

Onward -- and grinning, as I head out for airport pickup runs. . . be excellent to one another, now and always.

नमस्ते