Trump Administration Opens Medicare Obesity Drug Coverage to 65-Plus Seniors Through 2027

3 articles · Updated · STAT · Jun 16

Next month, Medicare will begin covering weight-loss drugs for adults 65 and older for the first time under the temporary Bridge demonstration program.
Federal officials are using that program to bypass a law that bars Medicare from paying for obesity drugs, turning a stopgap policy into the vehicle for coverage.
The original plan was a three-year Balance program that would have nudged private Medicare insurers to cover the drugs voluntarily, but insurers refused.
Bridge has now been extended through the end of next year, creating coverage that was meant to be temporary but could prove politically and practically hard to unwind.

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What happens to seniors when Medicare’s temporary weight-loss drug coverage expires at the end of next year?

If patients regain weight after treatment, is Medicare's multi-billion dollar program a sustainable health solution?

Private insurers rejected covering these drugs over cost, so why is the government now funding the program itself?