Millions of older Americans with obesity could potentially get Medicare's help with the hefty price of a weight-loss medication in order to reduce their high risk of heart problems. But exactly what level of cardiovascular risk should make someone eligible for such coverage, how many people could become eligible, and what could it cost the nation? A new study dives into these questions. It finds a wide range of answers that differ by millions of people and billions of dollars, depending on how private insurance plans that contract with Medicare are potentially allowed to proceed.
As many as 3.6 million people are most likely to qualify. This assumes plans only allow people with obesity who have already had a heart attack or stroke, or gotten diagnosed with coronary artery disease or angina, to get coverage for semaglutide injections, the study suggests.
That number doesn't include the 7 million who may already qualify because they have diabetes plus obesity. The study was led by Alexander Chaitoff, M.D.
, M.P.H.
, a VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and University of Michigan Medical School researcher, and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine . But what about older people with obesity who don't have diabetes and haven't yet had a major cardiovascular diagnosis , but have elevated odds of a heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years? If prescription drug coverage plans allow those with the highest cardiovascular risk scores to get full or partial coverage of the cost of se.