Medicare – The Goodman Institute Health Blog

Are Weight-Loss Drugs Right for Medicare?

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Devon Herrick

Should Medicare cover weight-loss drugs under Part D plans? Currently Medicare drug plans do not cover drugs for weight-loss.

Medicare coverage of obesity services and treatments currently includes obesity screening, behavioral counseling, and bariatric surgery, but not drugs that are prescribed for weight loss. The 2003 law that established the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit explicitly prohibits Part D plans from covering drugs used for weight loss, along with some other types of drugs, including agents used for cosmetic purposes or hair growth, fertility drugs, and drugs prescribed to treat sexual or erectile dysfunction.

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Friday Links

Posted on May 26, 2023May 25, 2023 by John C. Goodman

CBO: 6.2 million people will become uninsured due to the Medicaid unwinding as about 15.5 million people transfer away from the program. In Priceless, I argued that we should have government funded premium support for private insurance instead of privately managed Medicaid.
Both Biden and Trump favor industrial policy. Here is why economists are skeptical.
Why giving to public health in poor countries is sometimes better than giving people cash. (Yglesias)
One in five adults experience chronic pain. (NYT) it may not be all in your mind, but your mind is definitely involved.
More from the CBO: federal tax subsidies for employer-provided health insurance cost $2,075 per person in FY 2023 — significantly less than the federal cost of both Medicaid expansion ($7,069) and Obamacare premium subsidies ($6,169).
Paragon: The expected drop in Medicaid enrollment, as people migrate to employer plans, is a large net positive for the federal budget.

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Thursday Links

Posted on May 25, 2023May 24, 2023 by John C. Goodman

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AMA: Don’t Let Pharmacists Initiate Care for Covid Patients

Posted on May 24, 2023 by Devon Herrick

Have you called your primary care provider lately asking for an appointment? If so it was probably farther away than you had hoped. The national average wait to see a physician is 26 days. Once you see your doctor he or she is probably cordial but somewhat hurried. The average doctor-patient encounter lasts from 10 to 15 minutes, but that figure is probably skewed by Medicare patients who require longer appointments than average. There is a significant shortage of physicians.

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