Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios
The Biden administration's move to allow Medicare and Medicaid to cover blockbuster anti-obesity drugs for weight loss is upending customary partisan battle lines.
Why it matters: It's potentially a sign of things to come next year as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his allies challenge traditional GOP thinking on pharmaceutical issues.
Driving the news: The Medicare announcement was a rare Biden administration initiative to draw praise from some mainstream congressional Republicans, though it quickly got blowback from a prominent Kennedy ally and some progressives.
- "I am encouraged to see the administration support our efforts to help make Americans healthier by allowing Medicare coverage of new, physician prescribed and FDA approved anti-obesity medications," said Rep. Brad Wenstrup, sponsor of legislation on the issue that was advanced out of House Ways and Means this summer.
- On the other side, Kennedy ally and health entrepreneur Calley Means sharply criticized the announcement as a sign of "the hold the pharmaceutical industry has."
- "Americans did NOT vote for mass injections in this election," he wrote. "They voted for a shift to ROOT CAUSE interventions and benefit flexibility."
Kennedy, who if confirmed would preside over Medicare coverage decisions, said on Fox News in October that the obesity and diabetes epidemics would be better solved through healthier diets than through selling more GLP-1s.
Between the lines: On the progressive side of the spectrum, Sen. Bernie Sanders said the announcement was missing details on cost.
- He did not attack the idea of widespread use of the drugs as Means did, though, instead calling them "vitally important."
- "If this proposal is to be financially responsible for seniors and taxpayers, Medicare and Medicaid cannot pay up to 10 to 15 times more for these drugs than they cost in Europe and other major countries," Sanders said.
The big picture: In a further sign of the strange bedfellows, PhRMA, which has often been at odds with the Biden administration over the IRA's drug price negotiations, praised the move.
- "This proposal will lead to better health outcomes for patients and future cost savings," said Alex Schriver, senior vice president at PhRMA.
The bottom line: The pharmaceutical industry will have different allies across the parties next year depending on whether the issue is drug pricing or public health issues like vaccination.
