A recent Senate report warns that the exorbitantly priced weight-loss drugs could potentially bankrupt the US healthcare system. The report models the economic impact of these drugs under different uptake scenarios and paints a grim picture.
The report focuses on the new weight-loss drug, Wegovy, which has shown remarkable effectiveness. However, if half of the adults in the US with obesity start taking Wegovy, the collective cost would total an estimated $411 billion per year. This figure surpasses the $406 billion Americans spent in 2022 on all prescription drugs combined.
The financial burden on taxpayer-funded Medicare and Medicaid programs would also be extraordinary. If half of adults with obesity go on the drug, the cost to these federal programs would total $166 billion per year, rivaling the programs’ total 2022 drug costs of $175 billion.
The report dismisses the argument that the high prices for these weight-loss drugs can be offset by savings in healthcare use due to their high effectiveness. A Congressional Budget Office report cited in the analysis found that at their current prices, these medicines would cost the federal government more than it would save from reducing other healthcare spending.
The report suggests that unless the prices of these weight-loss drugs are substantially reduced, the total US spending on prescription drugs could reach over $1 trillion per year by 2031.
Read more: arstechnica.com