Semaglutide’s CVD indication could cost US Medicare $145bn extra a year

The annual cost of providing semaglutide through the US’s Medicare health insurance programme to patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) could range from $34bn to $145bn (£25.7bn to £110bn; €30.5bn to €130bn), research has shown.The research paper, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine,1 looked at four potential definitions of “established CVD” and used the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to estimate how many people would become eligible for each definition.Federal law currently prohibits Medicare from covering drugs prescribed for weight loss only. However, Medicare announced in March that it would allow its part D plans to cover semaglutide for patients who have a body mass index of at least 27 with established CVD, regardless of whether they have diabetes. Despite this recommendation it has not yet stated how it will define CVD.The four definitions considered by researchers were:Self-reported, physician provided diagnosis of myocardial infarction, stroke, coronary artery disease,…
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