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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Barriers to access, UBS analyst Bristow said he still expects tirzepatide to be a blockbuster drug for obesity, noting that the U.S. is already seeing supply shortages for the drug as a diabetes injection. "It's pretty clear how strong the demand is," he said.What needs to change?Lofton, of NYU Langone Health, said insurance coverage of anti-obesity drugs may not improve until more people in the medical field change how they view obesity. It’s not something that diet, exercise or sheer willpower can fix — instead, it’s a dysregulation of fat cells in the body, she said. Bias and stigma about obesity run rampant throughout the medical community. It’s “evident across all health professionals, including physicians, nurses, dietitians and others,” said Lisa Howley, an educational psychologist and the Association of American Medical Colleges' senior director of strategic initiatives and partnerships.A review published last year in the research journal Obesity found that health care professionals hold implicit and/or explicit weight-biased attitudes toward people with obesity.But shifting the opinion of the medical community — and with it, insurance companies — is extremely difficult. Requiring anti-obesity drugs to be covered by insurance may require legislative action, Stanford said. In 2021, lawmakers in the House of Representatives introduced The Treat and Reduce Obesity Act, which would have allowed the federal government to expand Medicare Part D coverage to include anti-obesity medications. The legislation had 154 bipartisan co-sponsors, according to Congress.gov, but did not receive a vote on the House floor before the term ended.America’s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP, a trade group that represents insurance companies declined to say whether it would support coverage of tirzepatide should the drug win FDA approval next year or other anti-obesity drugs. “Health insurance providers routinely review the evidence for medications and surgical treatments for obesity, and they offer many options to patients — ranging from lifestyle changes and nutrition counseling to surgical interventions to prescription drugs,” said David Allen, a spokesman for AHIP.Butsch, of the Cleveland Clinic, said he is hopeful insurance companies will cover tirzepatide.“We’re seeing really for the first time highly effective anti-obesity medications,” he said. “The benefit is real.”Follow NBC HEALTH on Twitter & Facebook.Berkeley Lovelace Jr.Berkeley Lovelace Jr. is a health and medical reporter for NBC News. He covers the Food and Drug Administration, with a special focus on Covid vaccines, prescription drug pricing and health care. He previously covered the biotech and pharmaceutical industry with CNBC.
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