Trump Administration Rejects Expanding Medicare, Medicaid Coverage of Obesity Drugs

[keangkong]

Wall Street Journal, Trump Administration Rejects Expanding Medicare, Medicaid Coverage of Obesity Drugs - Biden administration had proposed late last year coverage of the popular medicines for obesity (Apr. 4, 2025), no paywall article.

 

[exploitedworkerbee]

Of course Lilly is disappointed, they’re not going to have a giant customer that isn’t allowed to negotiate their extortionate pricing.

Here’s a thought: let Medicare negotiate with the drug companies and then decide whether to cover it if the drug companies think it’s worth it to them to have access to 70 million potential customers. A big portion of them would qualify for glp1s no doubt. I bet Medicare could get a screaming deal. So insanely stupid that theyre not allowed to negotiate because of influence of corporations on lawmakers, drives me up a wall.

 

[skunknuts]

Of course Lilly is disappointed, they’re not going to have a giant customer that isn’t allowed to negotiate their extortionate pricing.

Here’s a thought: let Medicare negotiate with the drug companies and then decide whether to cover it if the drug companies think it’s worth it to them to have access to 70 million potential customers. A big portion of them would qualify for glp1s no doubt. I bet Medicare could get a screaming deal. So insanely stupid that theyre not allowed to negotiate because of influence of corporations on lawmakers, drives me up a wall.

Sounds exactly like the last president's plan.

 

[keangkong]

Sounds exactly like the last president's plan.

Let's hope that Trump, who likes to talk deals, manages to speak to the drug companies and makes some sort of deal where the US government (or better yet, the government and private insurance) pay a large amount of money total for the drugs however the cost per patient turns out to be relatively low. While health insurance insurance and the federal will pay out much money if they do so, they'd likely see saving if the price becomes low enough. Then the drug companies which invested in these drugs are rewarded too so that there won't be any unwillingness of drug companies to invest in weight loss drugs.

 

[zpped]

Of course Lilly is disappointed, they’re not going to have a giant customer that isn’t allowed to negotiate their extortionate pricing.

Here’s a thought: let Medicare negotiate with the drug companies and then decide whether to cover it if the drug companies think it’s worth it to them to have access to 70 million potential customers. A big portion of them would qualify for glp1s no doubt. I bet Medicare could get a screaming deal. So insanely stupid that theyre not allowed to negotiate because of influence of corporations on lawmakers, drives me up a wall.

Wasn't that a major part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

 

[keangkong]

Wasn't that a major part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

It may have been. Having witnessed my recent retirement fund losses I'm not exactly a Trump defender right now.

Still it's possible he'll do something right as to GLP-1 drugs.

 

[G Vice]

Short term pain. Always doom and gloom on main stream media. We no longer watch ABC, CBS, or NBC. They go out of their way to make stories negative.

 

[exploitedworkerbee]

Short term pain. Always doom and gloom on main stream media. We no longer watch ABC, CBS, or NBC. They go out of their way to make stories negative.

Honest, good faith question for you: who do you believe writes the checks for increased tariff costs, who do those checks get written to, and where do you believe the money comes from?

I’m genuinely curious how those key details on which the entire plan turns are understood by folks like you who have selected to participate only in the right’s information ecosystem (that isn’t a jab, the left has one too).

 

[ghreid]

T's team admits that short term is about 7-8 years at the earilest. Can many americans last that "short term pain" for that long? Thailand looking better every day.

 

[indolent]

increased tariff costs

The issue is much more easily understood if we use the term new taxes, which is what they are. The "tariffs" part is just a technical mechanism.

 

[G Vice]

Honest, good faith question for you: who do you believe writes the checks for increased tariff costs, who do those checks get written to, and where do you believe the money comes from?

I’m genuinely curious how those key details on which the entire plan turns are understood by folks like you who have selected to participate only in the right’s information ecosystem (that isn’t a jab, the left has one too).

It comes from us consumers of course. And to some degree, if we can, we will alter our purchasing behaviors accordingly.
“selected to participate only in the right’s information ecosystem “
No.
I’m from Louisiana and am somewhat connected to the agricultural and seafood industries. For decades our local leaders have sought to expand the market for agricultural products to foreign countries (rice exports, as one example) but the business/trade environment has posed a great challenge over the years, although some in-roads have been made.
The local seafood industry has been suffering particularly harsh business conditions (for more than a decade) as Asia has dumped cheap seafood on the market, raised in unsanitary conditions, sometimes involving human sewage in the water supply for cultivation of their products.
It’s not just a quality issue. It’s threatening to run generations-old seafood producers out of business for good. Shrimp boats aren’t cheap, and the cost of diesel, and other factors have made many of these hard working people question whether it’s worth it to go out on the water at all. There has been a marketing push to enhance truth-in-labeling so the consumer knows of the product is Certified Louisiana, so the consumer can decide if they want to buy the much cheaper foreign seafood, or pay fair market price for higher quality local produced seafood from people heavily invested in being part of the community.
These are things we’ve been seeing first hand for a very long time. It just didn’t make the MSM for you to maybe care about it.
Did you care when the stock market tanked heavily in 2008 with the mortgage crisis? We all did, especially those on the cusp of retirement at that time, just like now. Did that administration get demonized than like what’s happening now. No. The newly creative (bad) lending practices all got explained away and buffered by “Wall Street.”
Doesn’t matter if it’s T or anyone else….I’m drawn to having a business man in charge who has been paying attention to all of this for decades and is trying to improve things.
True, all the new investments and manufacturing jobs don’t just appear overnight. Many years, as has been rightly mentioned above.
I too am hoping it all plays out well for everyone.
A modicum of optimism from the MSM is never coming, however.

 

[Ted R]

Honest, good faith question for you: who do you believe writes the checks for increased tariff costs, who do those checks get written to, and where do you believe the money comes from?

I’m genuinely curious how those key details on which the entire plan turns are understood by folks like you who have selected to participate only in the right’s information ecosystem (that isn’t a jab, the left has one too).

We have been writing those checks for tariffs for decades to our trading partners in other countries without any reciprocity from them. Yes, the new tariffs will sting a bit until they have some effect, but remember that this system didn't get this broken overnight and it won't be fixed overnight either. Example: we have been paying Viet Nam tariffs for years on clothes, shoes, etc. they produce. After Trump's tariffs went into effect, Viet Nam now wants to eliminate their tariffs so we will. That's how it's meant to work.

 

[exploitedworkerbee]

@G Vice thanks for answering my question, it's interesting to me to see how people come at these things based on the information ecosystems they're operating in.

I was trying to keep it from devolving into straight partisan bickering but I am afraid that's where we are ending up (I know, my remark above didn't help). Two different users have had a chance to respond in support of this policy after some criticism of it, so I think that's probably as good a place as any to leave it.

I am sure that the comments section of your local newspaper has some spirited folks hashing this out, you can pop over there to continue the convo if you wish. Or if you're a real maniac you can do it on Nextdoor.