Drug prices: Medicare coverage of antiobesity medications

Weight loss and antiobesity are not the same thing, said Adina Lasser, director of public policy and government affairs with the Alliance for Aging Research (AAR). Based on scientific and medical evidence, AAR publicly has stated its support for Medicare coverage of the GLP-1 RA antiobesity drugs that have become blockbusters across health care. Here she explains the organization’s stance ono those medications. AAR also commissioned a white paper titled “CMS Has the Legal Authority to Cover Anti-Obesity Medications (and Should).” It was prepared by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Field LLP and published in 2024. Federal rules have long prohibited Medicare from covering drugs or classes of drugs when used for “anorexia, weight loss, or weight gain.” But AAR argues that statutory restriction does not prohibit coverage of the antiobesity drugs, according to the paper.