Medicare spending on GLP-1 drugs skyrockets

Medicare's total spending on GLP-1 drugs, originally developed for Type 2 diabetes but now popular for tackling obesity, surged from $57 million in 2018 to $5.7 billion in 2022, according to a KFF analysis, Becker’s Payer Issues reports. Despite Medicare not being allowed to cover these drugs for weight loss, they can be covered for other medically accepted indications, such as reducing cardiovascular risk.