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Administration officials reversed a decision made during the Biden presidency that would have given millions of people access to weight-loss drugs paid for Medicare and Medicaid.
April 4, 2025, 6:32 p.m. ET
The Trump administration on Friday rejected a Biden plan that would have required Medicare and Medicaid to cover obesity drugs and expanded access for millions of people.
Under the law that established Medicare’s Part D drug benefits, the program was forbidden from paying for drugs for “weight loss.” The Biden administration’s proposal last November had attempted to sidestep that ban by arguing that the drugs would be allowed to treat the disease of obesity and its related conditions.
Expanding coverage of the drugs would have cost the federal government billions of dollars. The Biden administration estimated the federal expense at about $35 billion over 10 years.
The decision announced Friday was part of a larger 438-page regulation updating parts of the programs through which beneficiaries get drug and private medical coverage. The latest revision did not explain why Medicare should not cover the drugs.
Catherine Howden, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in an email that the agency believes expanding coverage “is not appropriate at this time.” But she said the agency had not ruled out coverage and “may consider future policy options” for the drugs.
The most popular weight loss drugs come from Novo Nordisk, which sells its medicine as Wegovy for weight loss and as Ozempic for diabetes, and from Eli Lilly, which sells its product as Zepbound for weight loss and Mounjaro for diabetes.
