Lend Your Support to CMS for Better Access to Obesity Medicines

The docket is open for you to lend your support until January 27. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing to open up access to obesity medicines in both of the programs they oversee. This is something that we – with virtually every advocate for obesity care – have been seeking for more than a decade.

In essence, CMS is proposing that drug benefits for both Medicare and Medicaid should treat obesity medicines just like any other drug for a chronic disease and provide coverage. Until now, Medicare has denied coverage across the board. Coverage under Medicaid has been optional and unreliable from state to state.

So now is the time to lend your support to perhaps the most important change in obesity policy we will see in our lifetimes.

Three Important Points

In this proposal are three important points that lay the groundwork for better obesity care.

First, CMS is saying very clearly that obesity is a complex, chronic disease that merits treatment just like any other chronic disease.

Next is the concept that these drugs serve the purpose of treating the obesity. Thus, exclusionary language about denying coverage for drugs used only for weight loss does not apply when a physician is treating obesity.

Finally is flexibility in defining obesity. The agency leaves room for health plans to define the disease and criteria for covering it as standards for care evolve.

Make Your Voice Heard

This proposal may well be the most important advance in policy for obesity care that we will ever witness. CMS sets a standard for health plans that many other health insurance plans follow. Going from denial for any coverage in Medicare to treating obesity medicines like medicines for any other disease is huge. On top of that, setting aside arbitrary denial of coverage for obesity medicines in Medicaid can do a lot to ease the disparities in access to care that are so glaring right now.

So take a minute and share your thoughts with CMS on this change. Make your voice heard. Encourage your friends, family, and colleagues to do the same. This is big.

You can find the docket and submit your comments here. Simply click on the “comment” button on that page. For more perspective, tips, and resources on maximizing the impact of your comments, click here.

The Artist’s Letter Rack, painting by William Michael Harnett / WikiArt

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January 9, 2025