Employers sour on weight-loss drugs

Two new drugs for obesity treatment are on the horizon, and might become available in the next few years — both may offer advantages beyond those of the currently available #glp1 agonists, including greater #weightloss at lower cost. This is welcome news, obviously, but let’s pause the celebration for five seconds. New medications still won’t be enough to treat a multifactorial illness like #obesity. Public health problems of obesity’s scope and scale never have a single cause, much less a single solution. As Forbes columnist Bruce Y. Lee has observed, “Obesity is a systems problem: global scope, heterogeneous patterns, wide-ranging impacts, lack of a single cause, and the failure of the single solutions.” Just as we won’t #vaccinate our way out of #covid, we can’t medicate our way out of obesity.

Assuming these drugs are safe and effective, health insurance companies choosing short-term cost savings over making these treatments affordable for as many people as possible seems incredibly short-sighted. If folks can lose weight safely on these drugs (I'll grant that's a big "if"), the long-term effect on patient health would FAR outweigh any cost in the present for treatment and result in SIGNIFICANT cost savings for the insurance companies in the long run. I wonder if this stems from the fact that most people switch insurance companies at least several times in their adult life, thus disincentivizing health insurance companies from prioritizing their current client's long-term health. Total speculation on my part, but that would neatly explain this trend. I am not a doctor - we have to say that every time we talk about anything medical, but I hope everyone knows that by now! Article in this morning's The Wall Street Journal #healthinsurance #heathcare #weightloss #healthinsurance #health #weightloss #weightmanagement #insuranceindustry

Many patients are now on weight loss medications. The drugs, most notably Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro, etc. work in two ways. They decrease blood sugar levels by increasing insulin production and lowering the amount of sugar that the liver makes. And they slow down the rate of food passing through their GI system, making them feel full longer and they don’t think about food as much. The question is, can weight loss drugs alter the brain function in response to appetite? Once patients achieve the desirable weight, can they discontinue their medications and still maintain the effect?

There are no shortcuts to weight loss. I noticed a trend in 2022 and the start of 2023 the clinic of patients asking questions and desiring to go on Ozempic for weight loss. I learned it was a trend popularised by Hollywood stars. At the time the side effects as noted on the drug prospect ranged from mild such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach (abdominal) pain, and constipation to more severe such as Diabetic Retinopathy, Pancreatitis, Acute Kidney and Gallbladder injury, hepatic and renal impairment. Meanwhile, we have learned from Ozempic and other containing semaglutide drugs users reports of suicidal ideation (increased risk of suicidal thoughts) and hair loss. Refs: https://lnkd.in/gdmphq_i https://lnkd.in/gz2RDt23