Biden unveils plan to expand weight loss drug access

Washington: US President Joe Biden's outgoing administration proposed Tuesday to make weight-loss drugs available for millions more Americans under the country's massive public health insurance program.

Under the Medicare and Medicaid insurance plans, drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are only available for overweight people with diabetes or heart disease, for the most part.

But the White House said Biden wanted to make them widely available as a treatment for obesity itself -- expanding coverage to nearly 7.5 million older and lower-income Americans.

"For too many Americans, these critical treatments are too expensive and therefore out of reach," a White House official said, noting that 42 percent of Americans are obese.

More than 60 million people in the United States, mostly those over age 65, rely on Medicare for their health insurance. Another 85 million are eligible for some assistance through Medicaid, which targets lower income residents.

But it was unclear how far the plan could get before Donald Trump returns to the White House in January, as he looks set to target healthcare budgets as part of a drive to cut US government spending.

Trump said last week as he appointed celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz to head Medicare and Medicaid that Oz would "cut waste and fraud" in what he called the "our Country's most expensive Government Agency."

Biden's bid to expand coverage for anti-obesity drugs is part of a wider drive during the Democrat's single term in office to lower the exorbitant cost of US prescription medicines.

In July, Biden called on pharmaceutical giants Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to lower prices for diabetes and weight loss drugs such as Ozempic, saying firms must stop "ripping off the American people."

His success in forcing US pharma companies to reduce the prices of some medications became a key plank of his reelection campaign before he dropped out in July.