India halves Russian oil imports following U.S. talks
The United States and India have held productive trade talks, and Indian refiners are already cutting Russian oil imports by 50%, a White House offici...
U.S. President Joe Biden has proposed expanding Medicare and Medicaid coverage to include anti-obesity drugs, potentially cutting out-of-pocket costs by 95%.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday proposed expanding coverage of anti-obesity drugs for millions on Medicare and Medicaid, which could cut out-of-pocket expenses for some by as much as 95%.
This would enable more Americans to afford new weight loss medications that can help prevent type 2 diabetes and lower the risk of death and heart attacks by up to 20%, but cost as much as $1,000 a month without insurance coverage.
Current rules for the Medicare and Medicaid government health insurance programs cover the use of drugs such as Mounjaro, Ozempic and Wegovy for certain conditions like diabetes, but not for obesity as a condition on its own.
The NY Times reported that the program would be effective starting in 2026 and would depend on the endorsement of the President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration. Robert F Kennedy Jr is Trump's choice to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services but has said that America should tackle obesity through healthy eating, not medicine
Representatives of the Trump transition team were not immediately available for comment.
A new proposed regulation, to be published by the Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday, would require Medicare to cover these drugs as a treatment for obesity, expanding access for an estimated 3.4 million Americans with Medicare.
"Medicare coverage would reduce out-of-pocket costs for these prescription drugs by as much as 95 percent for some enrollees," the White House said in a statement.
It would also ensure access to the medications for approximately 4 million adult Medicaid enrollees, it said.
The CMS administrator told NYT that the agency estimates that coverage will cost the federal government about $25 billion for Medicare and $11 billion for Medicaid over a decade. States would pay around $4 billion for their share of the Medicaid bill, according to Ms. Brooks-LaSure. The agency estimates total Medicare drug spending over the period at $2.1 trillion.
Reuters reported earlier this month that intense demand for anti-obesity drugs has triggered supply issues, with many patients turning to cheaper compounded versions sold online.
Biden, a Democrat, has pushed hard to bring down the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs, such as by capping the cost of insulin at $35 for seniors receiving Medicare, and enacting a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for the same group.
Biden's Inflation Reduction Act also required pharmaceutical companies to negotiate drug prices with Medicare, which covers 66 million people. The first price cuts for 10 drugs, ranging from 38% to 79% and starting in 2026, were announced in August.
Healthcare and drug industry groups have filed at least eight lawsuits to block the program, arguing it is unconstitutional and gives too much power to federal regulators.
During his first term in office, President-elect Donald Trump also sought to lower drug prices in a last-minute rule pushed out by his administration in 2020, but the measure was later blocked by a federal judge.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
A tsunami threat was issued in Chile after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Drake Passage on Friday. The epicenter was located 135 miles south of Puerto Williams on the north coast of Navarino Island.
The war in Ukraine has reached a strategic impasse, and it seems that the conflict will not be solved by military means. This creates a path toward one of two alternatives: either a “frozen” phase that can last indefinitely or a quest for a durable political regulation.
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is facing its first lawsuits in the United Kingdom over claims that its talc-based products cause cancer, as it continues to battle tens of thousands of similar cases in the United States.
The World Health Organization on Monday issued a health advisory warning about three contaminated cough syrups identified in India, urging authorities to report any detection of these medicines in their countries to the health agency.
Around 6,000 students in Malaysia have been infected with influenza and some schools have been closed for the safety of children and staff, an education ministry official said.
Indian police have arrested the owner of Sresan Pharmaceutical Manufacturer, the cough syrup company linked to the deaths of at least 19 children in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, a senior police officer told Reuters on Thursday.
More than 200 health facilities in war-hit eastern Congo have run out of medicines due to widespread looting and supply chain disruptions during fighting this year, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday.
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