A group of Democratic senators are calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to keep a proposed Biden-era rule that would have allowed Medicare and Medicaid to cover drugs used to treat obesity after the Trump administration decided not to finalize it.
Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Ben Ray Luján (N.M.) and Gary Peters (Mich.) asked that Kennedy reissue the rule proposed under former President Biden.
“We urge you to re-issue a rule that would allow Medicare and Medicaid to cover drugs used to treat obesity. The United States faces an indisputable public health crisis. More than 38% of U.S. adults ages 60 and older live with obesity,” they wrote.
As a result of legislation passed in 2003, Medicare is forbidden from covering drugs used to treat obesity, and most state Medicaid programs also don’t cover these medications. Bipartisan efforts to override this prohibition have stalled in Congress.
The Biden administration sought to sidestep this obstacle by issuing a rule in November reinterpreting existing statutes to allow for Medicare Part D to cover anti-obesity drugs. But earlier this month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it would not be finalizing this rule, providing no reason for the decision.
“This action will not only benefit the health of Americans, but is also a critical long-term investment to improve the costly treatment of health complications associated with obesity,” the senators said in their letter to Kennedy.
“From expensive hospital stays to multiple treatments for comorbidities, the direct medical costs of obesity run the U.S. health care system over $173 billion a year,” the group continued. “Investing in obesity treatment coverage would help to reduce these astronomical costs over time.”
The senators noted that Kennedy said in one of his confirmation hearings that “the GLP-1 class of drugs are miracle drugs” and urged him to “uphold the belief expressed.”
Kennedy, however, has also criticized GLP-1 medications in the past, saying in interviews he believes they are being pushed onto Americans by foreign companies.
The Hill has reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.
