blood sugar, with the significant addi- tional benefit of helping facilitate siz- able weight loss. Along with Wegovy and Zep-
bound, which are variants primarily prescribed for obesity, the drugs are GLP-1 agonists, which work by mim- icking natural hormones that make people feel full, preventing overeating. The main issue with
these drugs is that they are very expensive. They’re new enough so that there aren’t generics yet. They cost between $1,000 and $1,350 a month, before insurance kicks in. Prices with private insur-
ance vary but are often as low as $25 a month, when they’re covered. When Ozempic or Mounjaro are prescribed for patients with diabetes on Medicare, copays sometimes reach between $250 and $400 a month, which many people cannot afford. But these drugs are not covered for
DR. OZ
weight loss itself by Medicare or Med- icaid, each of which insures about 20% of the population. This is problematic, since plenty of low-income individuals and seniors suffer from obesity and would benefit from medical assistance. In April, the administration con-
firmed that Medicare and Medicaid would continue to cover the drugs only when used to treat diabetes, not for weight loss — reversing Biden’s plan to cover them for obesity under Medi- care Part D. “Our understanding of obesity
has changed,” said Kirsten Axelsen, a nonresident fellow in healthcare at the American Enterprise Institute and a biopharma consultant, in a Newsmax interview. “Willpower is not an effective treat-
ment for obesity. It’s foolish that the federal government won’t cover drugs that are safe.” Ironically, she pointed out that
while Medicare users are not covered, federal government employees are covered for the drugs.
Before leaving office, the Biden administration sought to place Ozem- pic and Wegovy on a short list of drugs for which the government would nego- tiate prices down so that Medicare could more affordably cover them. They also started a process to
allow Wegovy and Zepbound to be covered for weight loss/obesity by Medicare and Medicaid, but the Trump administra- tion decided not to cover the expensive treatments. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the
incoming head of the Cen- ters for Medicare and Med- icaid Services, has been a vocal proponent of the drugs.
President Donald Trump
has complained about the cost of the drugs. He noted on TV that Euro- peans pay two-digit prices for the same drugs for which Americans are charged $1,000. The drug companies have to be willing to take a hit in their profit margins to make them afford- able for Americans. Dr. Sarah Schmitz, an obesity medi-
cine specialist at Weill Cornell Hospi- tal’s Comprehensive Weight Control Center in New York, was educated to understand obesity as a disease. “The more you learn about the bio-
logical basis of the disease, the clearer it is. A leptin deficiency leads to obesity. Various genes are implicated,” she said. But Schmitz also sees the cultural
factors that lead to the natural prob- lem. “We live in an obesogenic environ- ment. Everyone is heavier than they would be. On a bell curve, people are at a higher BMI [body mass index] than they used to be.” She believes medications are critical
for a “clinically significant” weight loss: “They produce more weight loss for a larger percentage of people. “You treat obesity to treat obesity-
related diseases like diabetes,” she continued. As much as these drugs help to lower
chronic obesity, it is also true, as RFK Jr. argues, that American behavior
toward food and exercise must change. In a Feb. 27 post on X, Ohio guber-
natorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wrote, “Start physical education in kindergarten. Bring back the presiden- tial fitness test in middle school. Serve healthier food in school cafeterias. “The best way to save on health
costs in the long run is to have a health- ier population in the first place.”
Trump Sheds 30 Pounds: ‘I Did It My Way’
P
resident Donald Trump said he lost 30 pounds — “the hard way.” There was speculation in the media that the newly svelte president had used a weight loss drug like Ozempic to shed pounds while he was out of ofice, but Trump told Fox News, “I did it the hard way; I work.” Trump, 78, a fast-food connoisseur
who enjoys hamburgers from McDonald’s, said he’d been so busy that he didn’t have time to sit down and eat. Now, apparently, if he orders a
burger he skips the bun. Trump still likes steaks and Oreos,
and drinks up to a dozen Diet Cokes a day, which he summons with the press of a button in the Oval Ofice. First lady Melania Trump, who
eats healthy foods and avoids alcohol, has been helping her husband with his diet. She has encouraged him to steer clear of the Mar-a-Lago dessert buffet, which includes homemade cakes, puddings, and tortes.
MAY 2025 | NEWSMAX 23
OZ/MARK MAKELA/GETTY IMAGES / TRUMP/ANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES
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