Medicaid policies vary from state to state. As new GLP-1 drugs (and other drugs) become available to treat obesity and overweight, significant health benefits may emerge. However, do state Medicaid agencies actually cover these drugs?This is the question asked by the questioner Liu et al. (2024). They used data from public state Medicaid formularies and preferred drug list files to determine whether a state covered FDA-approved anti-obesity drugs. The number of reimbursed prescriptions for each anti-obesity drug was determined based on Medicaid state drug utilization disclosure data from 2011-2022.
Generally, some but not all anti-obesity drugs are covered. In addition, the more potent GLP-1 drugs are generally covered only if they are used to treat diabetes (not overweight or obesity).
In Q1 2023, 10 of the 47 states (21%) with public preferred drug lists cover at least 1 anti-obesity drug; 5 states (11%) cover at least 1 anti-obesity drug without restriction …Additionally, 39 states (83%) provide unrestricted coverage of at least 1 of 2 diabetes versions of GLP-1 RA.
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