During the Trump administration pow-wow in the Oval Office on Thursday, Dr. Oz and HHS Robert Kennedy Jr. announced a deal with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to provide weight loss drugs at a discount to Medicare and Medicaid patients, as well as a direct offer to consumers on TrumpRx.gov.
The deal will offer the current starting doses of the medications, given by injection, as well as the upcoming oral versions of the medicines if FDA approved, at a cost of $149 a month for those on Medicare, Medicaid, or at TrumpRx.
The injectable version for the uninsured would be approximately $350 per month through TrumpRx — down from around $500 currently.
There is a catch however.
The medications will only be covered if patients have:
- a body mass index over 27 and established prediabetes or cardiovascular disease
- a body mass index over 30 and uncontrolled hypertension, kidney disease or heart failure
- or a body mass index over 35
Here’s Dr. Oz and Dr. Trump with the Trump McMath:
Here’s BrainWorm Boi bragging about helping poor people with weight loss drugs.
PBS does a better breakdown here:
Sounds like the deal is an introductory price primarily for the starting doses of the drugs, and offers a good deal to the companies by bypassing the pharmaceutical tariffs enacted by the misadministration.