An obesity expert welcomes new Medicare option for access to effective weight loss medication, and shares the new program’s limitations. Read the full article on Health Lab. Episode Transcript For more on this story and for others like it, visit the Health Lab website where you can subscribe to our Health Lab newsletters to receive the latest in health research and information to your inbox each week. Health Lab is a part of the Michigan Medicine Podcast Network, and is produced by the Michigan Medicine Department of Communication. You can listen to Health Lab wherever you get your podcasts. All Health Lab content including health news, best practices and research insights are for informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional medical guidance. Always seek the advice of a health care provider for questions about your health and treatment options. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Medicare's New GLP-1 Bridge Program

Health Lab

Welcome to Health Lab, your destination for news and stories about the future of healthcare. Today we're talking about the recent changes to Medicare's GLP-1 coverage, the access it expands, and the program's new limitations. For decades, it's been against the law for Medicare to pay for weight loss medication, but on July 1st of 2026, that changed with the launch of a new program called Bridge. It gives qualifying people over 65, or people who have Medicare for other reasons, access to some weight management medications if they meet certain health and weight criteria.

Doctors who specialize in treating obesity and study its impact on individuals and society welcome this shift. The policy began in the previous presidential administration as the knowledge became more widespread that obesity is recognized as a disease, with complex causes and effective treatments. But the new program doesn't cover all of those treatments, nor the services that can help people achieve and sustain weight loss over the long term. And it's only open to people who meet certain health criteria.

Lauren Oshman, MD, MPH, a physician who is board certified in family medicine and obesity medicine, has been preparing for the program's launch for months. She welcomes it not only for her own patients at University of Michigan Health's Chelsea Family Medicine Clinic, but also for the primary care clinics across Michigan that she's advising as a leader of a statewide effort to improve type 2 diabetes prevention and care.

Oshman has been thinking about Medicare coverage of GLP-1 drugs for years because her research focus is in type 2 diabetes and obesity. In 2023, she worked with the U of M National Poll on Healthy Aging to survey Americans between the ages of 50 and 80 on the subject.

Medicare's New GLP-1 Bridge Program

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

Medicare's New GLP-1 Bridge Program

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.