NEWS: Sanders Statement on Proposed Rule by HHS to Cover Anti-Obesity Drugs in Medicare and Medicaid

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) today released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a new proposal that would expand coverage of anti-obesity medications for Americans with Medicare and Medicaid:

“The good news is that HHS recognizes that vitally important anti-obesity medicines like Wegovy and Zepbound should be made available to all Americans, regardless of income. The bad news is that unless Medicare demands that Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly substantially reduce the prices for these anti-obesity drugs, Medicare premiums for all seniors would skyrocket. If this proposal is to be financially responsible for seniors and taxpayers, Medicare and Medicaid cannot pay up to 10-15 times more for these drugs than they cost in Europe and other major countries. We cannot allow Medicare and Medicaid to simply be a cash cow for Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.”

In September, Sanders led the HELP Committee in a hearing to examine why Novo Nordisk charges the American people the highest prices in the world for its life-saving drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy. Epidemiologists have estimated that more than 40,000 lives per year could be saved if Wegovy and other weight-loss drugs were made affordable and widely available in the U.S.

In May, HELP Committee Majority Staff released a report that modeled how new weight loss drugs could impact prescription drug spending, even while taking into account estimated manufacturer discounts. Key findings from the report include:

• If half of adults with obesity took Wegovy and the other new weight loss drugs, it could cost $411 billion per year – more than what Americans spent on all retail prescription drugs in 2022 ($406 billion).
• If half of all Medicare and Medicaid patients who are obese took Wegovy and other weight loss drugs, Medicare and Medicaid could spend $166 billion per year – rivaling what Medicare and Medicaid spent on all retail prescription drugs in 2022 ($175 billion).
• Unless prices are substantially reduced, Wegovy and other weight loss drugs could push Americans to spend $1 trillion per year on all prescription drugs.
• If Novo Nordisk, a Danish company, charged Americans the same price it charges people in Denmark for Wegovy, the U.S. health care system could save up to $317 billion dollars per year – if half of adults with obesity took the drug. Taxpayers through Medicare and Medicaid alone could save $128 billion per year.
• If Novo Nordisk dropped the price of Wegovy in the U.S down to the price in Denmark, the U.S. health care system could pay for new weight loss drugs for 100% of adults with obesity for less than the cost of covering 25% of the population with obesity at current U.S. net prices annually.