Medscape December 12, 2024
The question may seem simple: Could paying for weight loss medications — especially the pricey glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1s), tirzepatide (Zepbound) and semaglutide (Wegovy) — be more cost-effective than paying for obesity care and the complications of obesity, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes?
It’s a question that’s getting an increased amount of attention.
And for good reason — more than two in five US adults have obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and costs to treat obesity, in 2019 dollars, approached $173 billion, including productivity losses. Adults with obesity have annual healthcare costs of $1861 more than those at healthier weights.
Among recent developments:
- A proposed new rule, announced on November 26...
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