For decades, the cost and accessibility of healthcare has been a major issue in federal elections. This year’s race for the White House is no different, with former President Trump and Vice President Harris adopting divergent approaches to earning the votes of Americans with genuine concerns about their ability to access needed care.
New to this conversation is a genuine breakthrough in dealing with several chronic conditions related to obesity. These rapidly growing medications, Ozempic and its near-twin Wegovy prescribed for weight loss, have gained an exceptional level of media and public attention, including an acknowledgment by uber-celebrity Oprah Winfrey that these compounds prompted her remarkable weight loss.
Known as Glucagon-like peptide (GLP) inhibitors, these drugs are improving the overall health of millions of Americans, who fully grasp their significance and effectiveness. A survey my organization conducted among voters in battleground states found a full two-thirds (66%) are more likely to support Congressional candidates who favor anti-obesity medications being covered by Medicare. The public may wonder why, if federal employees already receive coverage for these medications, the taxpayers who underwrite their salaries do not.
GLPs hold the promise of being the greatest advance in reducing obesity-related ailments, which would be key to reducing healthcare costs as our nation’s population ages. Data indicates that 90% of America’s healthcare costs are attributable to chronic conditions and mental health, and obesity is directly linked to those afflictions. As the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) noted in naming GLP-1 drugs as their 2023 Breakthrough of the Year, “… a new class of therapies is breaking the mold, and there’s a groundswell of hope that they may dent rates of obesity and interlinked chronic diseases.”
Despite this, some politicians, like Vice President Harris and socialist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, are advocating for policies that would negatively affect the availability of these drugs and have a chilling effect on the development of new health-inducing treatments.
Read full article here:
