Ozempic for the people

Biden calls for major slimming – with weight loss pills

Biden handed out food at Thanksgiving.

(Bild: AFP/SAUL LOEB)

Making America slim again! The outgoing US administration of President Joe Biden wants to make weight-loss medication available to millions of US citizens via national health insurance. The move would benefit millions of Americans.

"For too many Americans, these important treatments are too expensive and therefore unaffordable," a US government representative said in Washington on Tuesday. He pointed out that 42 percent of US adults are obese.

Under government health insurance plans Medicare and Medicaid, drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy are largely available only to obese people with diabetes or heart disease.

Could be overturned by Trump
A statement from the US government said that Biden also wanted to make these drugs generally available for the treatment of obesity, extending coverage to nearly 7.5 million elderly and low-income US citizens.

More than 60 million people in the United States, most of them over the age of 65, rely on Medicare for coverage. A further 85 million are entitled to support from Medicaid, which is aimed at low-income citizens. It was questionable how effective the outgoing government's initiative would be.

Biden's successor Donald Trump, who begins his second term in office on January 20, wants to significantly reduce public spending. Last week, he nominated TV doctor Mehmet Oz to head the health authority CMS, which is responsible for Medicare and Medicaid. Oz will eliminate "waste and fraud" in the "most expensive government agency in our country", Trump said at the time of his nomination.

Biden recently spoke of rip-offs
One of the goals of Biden's term in office was to reduce the high cost of prescription drugs in the USA. In July, he called on the pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to lower the prices of diabetes and weight loss drugs such as Ozempic. The companies must stop "ripping off the American people", said Biden.