Washington's GLP-1 moment is here. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has been under sustained pressure — through rulemaking, executive action, and congressional legislation — to classify obesity as a treatable condition under federal benefit programs, unlocking coverage for glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists. For decades, Medicare Part D was statutorily barred from covering drugs used solely for "weight loss." Any CMS rule or legislative fix breaking that wall doesn't just change health policy. It opens a federally guaranteed buyer for the two most expensive drug classes in modern medicine.
The mechanism is straightforward: CMS sets coverage rules, and formulary access follows. Approximately 67 million Americans are enrolled in Medicare; another 92 million in Medicaid. Even a modest penetration rate of eligible obese beneficiaries at current list prices — Zepbound and Wegovy each run above $10,000 per patient annually before rebates — produces a revenue step-change that no commercial market expansion can match.