Limited data on adults age 60 and older raise questions on whether high-priced weight-loss drugs will really help with lowering rates of chronic illness and disability
After her weight began climbing in high school, she spent years losing 50 or 100 pounds then gaining it back. Morris, 78, was at her heaviest in her mid-40s, standing 5 feet 10½ inches and weighing 310 pounds. The Pittsburgh resident has had diabetes for more than 40 years.
“It takes your appetite right away. I wasn’t hungry at all and I lost weight like mad,” said Morris, who has shed 40 pounds.
The first was frustration with limited access to the drugs. Because Medicare doesn’t cover weight loss medications and they can cost more than $10,000 a year, seniors’ ability to get the new drugs is restricted. Seeking to change that, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has reintroduced the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act, which would require Medicare to cover weight loss drugs. But the proposal, which had been considered previously, has languished amid concerns over enormous potential costs for Medicare.
While acknowledging difficult policy decisions that lie ahead, experts voiced considerable agreement on which older adults should take these drugs. Fatima Stanford, an obesity medicine scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said the new drugs are “best suited for older patients who have clinical evidence of obesity,” such as elevated cholesterol or blood sugar, and people with serious obesity-related conditions such as osteoarthritis or heart disease.
Between ages 60 and 70, about 12% of muscle mass falls away, researchers estimate; after 80, it reaches 30%.
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