CBO analysis calls for more research into savings potential for obesity treatments

Cov­er­ing an­ti-obe­si­ty med­ica­tions through Medicare would sig­nif­i­cant­ly in­crease fed­er­al spend­ing, the Con­gres­sion­al Bud­get Of­fice said in an analy­sis pub­lished Thurs­day con­clud­ing that more re­search is need­ed in­to the use and po­ten­tial sav­ings of those treat­ments.

CBO wrote in the analy­sis that at their cur­rent price, ac­count­ing for re­bates and dis­counts, the cov­er­age of an­ti-obe­si­ty med­ica­tions would re­sult in an over­all in­crease in fed­er­al spend­ing. The analy­sis comes as law­mak­ers are work­ing on leg­is­la­tion that would re­quire CMS to cov­er obe­si­ty treat­ments un­der Medicare Part D.

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