Medicare to Negotiate Lower Prices for Weight-Loss Drugs
The New York Times
The government is expected to pay lower prices for Ozempic and Wegovy starting in 2027. The Trump administration will decide whether to expand coverage for millions of Americans.
Medicare’s prices for the blockbuster weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy are likely to decline starting in 2027, thanks to their inclusion on a list of medicines whose prices will be negotiated directly between the government and drug makers.
The Biden administration announced the list on Friday, but the incoming Trump administration will oversee the price discussions this year.
Late last year, the Biden administration separately proposed that the federal government expand coverage of weight-loss drugs to millions of Americans, though it’s unclear if the Trump administration will carry out the proposal. Expanding coverage would drive up the government’s overall spending on those medications even if the negotiations result in a deep price cut.
The drugs, made by Novo Nordisk, were selected for price negotiations along with more than a dozen other widely used or costly medications as part of a program created by the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden’s signature legislation. It is not clear how much Medicare’s prices for Ozempic and Wegovy could drop. It’s possible that the price cut would be small, as it has been for some of the drugs in the negotiation program so far, which would save little money for the government.
But if Medicare negotiates a deep price cut on the weight-loss drugs, it could have ripple effects in the broader market for the medications, which have transformed the treatment of obesity and become a cultural touchstone.
The drugs are in huge demand, but many employers, insurers and government programs do not cover them because the cost is so high. On those insurance plans, only patients who can afford to pay hundreds of dollars per month out of pocket can generally obtain them.
