{"id":2923,"date":"2026-07-02T07:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2923"},"modified":"2026-07-02T07:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:05:10","slug":"historic-event-for-the-first-time-medicare-is-covering-weight-loss-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2923","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Historic event\u2019: For the first time, Medicare is covering weight loss drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<section>\n<p><b>PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 Medicare began covering weight-loss drugs for millions of Americans Wednesday for the first time, through a new pilot program approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2921\">One person, one dog killed in Tucson apartment fire<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is really a first-time historic event,\u201d Dr. Doug Maready said. He is the Arizona Obesity Organization President and Chief Medical Officer of Forte-Well Being. \u201cIt\u2019s going to add millions of people to coverage eligibility.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The program, called the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, runs through the end of 2027. Historically, law has banned Medicare from covering weight-loss medications.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not changing the law, but it\u2019s offering people with Medicare who might be eligible temporary coverage for these medications for weight loss,\u201d Dr. Juliette Cubanski, vice president and director of the Program on Medicare Policy at KFF, said.<\/p>\n<p>The Bridge program allows eligible enrollees access to approved drugs for a $50 monthly co-pay.<\/p>\n<h2>Who is eligible<\/h2>\n<p>To qualify, patients must have a body mass index of 35 or higher. Those with a BMI below that threshold may still be eligible if they have certain conditions, including heart failure, uncontrolled high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease or prediabetes.<\/p>\n<p>Patients are not eligible if Medicare already covers their GLP-1 medication for Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea or fatty liver disease.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2919\">Rangers looking for man who broke Hopi artifact at Grand Canyon South Rim<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>What drugs are covered<\/h2>\n<p>The three medications available through the Bridge program are Foundayo, Wegovy and Zepbound. Without insurance, those drugs can cost between $1,000 and $1,500 per month out of pocket, according to obesity medicine physician Dr. Krystal Tamura.<\/p>\n<h2>What doctors are saying<\/h2>\n<p>According to physicians, the goal of the Bridge program is to determine whether preventive care that treats obesity before it becomes another disease can reduce long-term costs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMedicare taking this on is a huge step because most of our other companies will follow suit once Medicare decides they want to do coverage,\u201d Tamura said.<\/p>\n<p><i>See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <\/i><i>Please click here to report it<\/i><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <\/i><i>it to us here<\/i><i> with a brief description.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2917\">Tucson raises parking rates, some businesses fear customer drop-off<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Medicare began covering weight-loss drugs for millions of Americans Wednesday for the first time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Historic event\u2019: For the first time, Medicare is covering weight loss drugs - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2923\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Historic event\u2019: For the first time, Medicare is covering weight loss drugs - 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