Statement from the Health Equity Coalition for Chronic Disease on New CBO Analysis
The Health Equity Coalition for Chronic Disease has long supported the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act (TROA) as a cost-effective solution to a rapidly growing obesity epidemic. We are now renewing our calls on Congress to take urgent and immediate action following analysis released by the Congressional Budget Office confirming what we’ve long believed: That Medicare coverage of anti-obesity medications is a cost-effective way to combat an epidemic projected to impact half of Americans by 2030.
Despite some analysts falsely projecting GLP-1s would cost the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars and bankrupt Medicare, CBO’s analysis reveals Medicare coverage of GLP-1s would cost on average $3.5 billion a year — to treat a disease that’s costing the U.S. healthcare system $173 billion a year.
There is absolutely no doubt that investing $3.5 billion a year to get rid of a $173 billion/year problem is a smart investment. That investment will not only save money but will also save lives by significantly driving down obesity rates and improving health outcomes for millions — including the millions of Black and Brown Americans who are disproportionately and unfairly shouldering the burden of the obesity epidemic.
Rev. Al Sharpton said it best in an op-ed he recently penned for the Washington Post:
“As obesity and its costs spiral out of control, waiting for the situation to get worse before providing treatment is the very definition of ‘too expensive.’ And the effects are rippling most significantly across Black America. … Obesity is the root cause and driver of hundreds of other costly chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes — each requiring different treatments and medications, and for each of which Medicare foots the bill. So instead of paying to treat your underlying obesity — and preventing the onset of further ailments and diseases — Medicare requires you to get sicker before it will treat your obesity (and, now, your secondary condition). It’s like refusing to pay for your car’s oil change today and instead opting to replace your entire engine tomorrow.”
Medicare must provide access to the clinical standard of care for obesity, which is why we are calling on Congress to reverse outdated Medicare coverage policy to provide access to clinically indicated care. It is time to make the cost-effective investments needed to finally turn the page on the obesity epidemic and to improve the health outcomes for communities that have long been neglected by our health-care system.
###
Background on Obesity:
Obesity has disproportionate impacts on marginalized groups, particularly Black Americans. Nearly half of Black Americans, including almost 60 percent of Black women, are living with obesity — higher than their White counterparts. Even though rates of obesity are higher for Black Americans than White Americans, access is largely unavailable to the prior group. With limited access to obesity treatments, higher rates of obesity amongst Black and Hispanic Americans further deepen existing health disparities, as obesity often triggers hundreds of other related conditions prevalent in Black and Hispanic communities — including Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and high blood pressure.
The total cost of chronic diseases due to obesity was $1.72 trillion in 2016, which is more than the federal government spent last year on Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Affordable Care Act marketplace health insurance subsidies combined. These high costs fall on taxpayers. Researchers at the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center project that coverage for new obesity treatments could save Medicare $175 billion in the first 10 years alone. If obesity and their extreme costs persist and grow, the problems will get worse, and they will get worse for historically disadvantaged communities of color far more than others.
