Biden proposes government-funded weight-loss jabs threatening row with RFK Jr

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

59% : Under current rules hundreds of thousands of people can access the drugs through Medicare or Medicaid if they are given it to treat other health conditions such as diabetes or heart disease.
57% : The move from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would allow Medicaid and Medicare to cover access to drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy or Zepbound, and could cost taxpayers up to $35 billion over the next decade.
52% : Medicare spent around $4.6 billion covering Ozempic for around 780,000 beneficiaries in 2022, according to federal data.
51% : Speaking in Philadelphia in September, Mr Kennedy said: "If a doctor's patient has diabetes or obesity, the doctor ought to be able to say, I'm going to recommend gym membership, and I'm going to recommend good food, and Medicaid ought to be able to finance those things the same as they would Ozempic."And in a post responding to a New York Times op-ed on Ozempic on X, formerly Twitter, in September, Mr Kennedy said "weight-shaming is cruel and that obesity is not a failure of character".
49% : "The move comes after a bipartisan coalition of congressional members lobbied for access to the drug on Medicare, arguing that it could save billions in the long run from treating chronic diseases associated with obesity.
40% : Weight-loss drug market has explodedThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimate roughly 28 million people on Medicaid are considered obese.
39% : Medicare has been barred from offering the drugs under a decades-old law that prohibits the government-backed insurance program from covering weight-loss products.
30% : While Mr Kennedy has been a staunch critic of the drug, Dr Mehmet Oz, Mr Trump's pick to lead The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, previously endorsed weight-loss drugs.

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