Weight

I entered politics in 1976, when I was elected as the circuit clerk, in Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi. On my first day, I learned there were two voter registration books: one for Whites that registered them, and one book for Blacks that didn’t. Going forward, I made sure there was a single registration book for all voters.

I am telling you this story, because what I valued most about my 30 years in public service was helping people — especially those who are disenfranchised or low income. Despite how jaded this country is about their elected leaders, many politicians I know feel the same way I do. Which is why today, more lawmakers need to help Americans struggling with obesity, because too little is being done.

Just how bad is our nation’s obesity problem? The federal government found in 2019, that more than “2 in 5 U.S. adults have obesity,” and many of those adults “with obesity have other serious chronic diseases…” And 9.2% of Americans suffer from “extreme obesity.” In Oregon, those numbers are about equally bad with almost 30% of the adult population being obese in 2017. Clearly, our government needs to deal with this country’s obesity epidemic.

But there is some good news: there is a new tool available to help overweight Americans. A relatively new class of medications called GLP-1 drugs that helps patients curb their appetite. As you may recall, Oprah Winfrey recently did a television program about these drugs and their impacts on health and society. But GLP-1 medications like Ozempic can cost patients around $1000 per month. At that price, they are out of reach for working class people.

Now Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, who chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, is in the driver’s seat to advance legislation in the Congress that would ensure these weight loss medications are covered by Medicare. This would help millions of older, working-class Americans get access to these weight loss drugs by making them affordable.

Medicare coverage for GLP-1 drugs also sends a strong message to state Medicare and Medicaid programs, and private health insurers, to also cover these important treatments.

Regrettably, though, there is resistance in Washington to expanding access to these life-changing treatments. The far-Left is suspicious of policies that send profits to drug companies, and the far-Right is leery of increasing government spending. But as someone who has staked out a career as a centrist, I believe it is wrong to let political orthodoxies stand in the way of sensible public policies. Helping working class Americans pay for weight loss drugs — that can reduce their risks of long-term illness — is good government, period.

Another reason that lawmakers have been reluctant to ensure Medicare pays for these weight loss drugs, is because we all know there is a stigma attached to obesity. Some might say that being overweight is a condition that people can treat themselves through diet and exercise. So, why should the American taxpayer pay to cover these weight loss drugs? But that kind of thinking is misguided.

In fact, the World Health Organization says: “Obesity is a chronic complex disease…” People know that they shouldn’t eat unhealthy foods and that they should exercise more; but they don’t and it’s not because they don’t care about their lives.

Senator Wyden has a reputation for being a lawmaker that prioritizes helping people, especially those who are unable to pay for luxuries like weight loss drugs and lobbyists. I hope he does the right thing by helping overweight Americans afford these GLP-1 drugs. After all, Americans shouldn’t have to be rich to be healthy.