Stacie Dusetzina is a professor of health policy and of cancer research at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Stephen Morrissey, the interviewer, is the Executive Managing Editor of the Journal. S.B. Dusetzina. Access to GLP-1s for Medicare Beneficiaries — A Bridge to Nowhere? N Engl J Med 2026;394:2385-2387.

NEJM Interview: Stacie Dusetzina on a new program that will allow Medicare Part D enrollees to obtain GLP-1 medications for use for weight loss.

NEJM Interviews

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** NEJM Interviews

## Participants

- **Stephen Morrissey** (NEJM Group)
- **Stacie Dusetzina** (Vanderbilt University School of Medicine)
- **Stacie Dusetzina** (Vanderbilt University School of Medicine)

## Transcript

Historically, Medicare's outpatient prescription drug benefit, Part D, has prohibited coverage of drugs used for weight loss. But in July 2026, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will launch the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge Program, which will offer Part D enrollees an opportunity to obtain GLP-1 medications for weight loss or weight maintenance. I'm Stephen Morrissey, Managing Editor of the New England Journal of Medicine,

and I'm talking with Stacie Dusetzina, a professor of health policy and of cancer research at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Dr. Dusetzina has written a perspective article about the Bridge Program. Dr. Dusetzina, why has Part D not covered drugs used for weight loss in the past, and what's changed to make policymakers reconsider it? Originally when Medicare Part D was first passed, there was a prohibition on covering certain types of drugs

that were considered more lifestyle treatments. And weight loss medications in particular, and using drugs or covering drugs for weight loss, was explicitly written into the law. It sounds very archaic today when you think about how science has progressed and how treatments have progressed, but in part that was done because of concerns over unsafe weight loss medications such as Fen-Fen,

which had just been pulled from the market around the time that Medicare Part D was passed back in 2003. So in some ways this is really related to history, rather than being really forward thinking in the way that we think about weight loss medications today. That said, this ban on coverage for weight loss has continued,

and so the GLP-1 Bridge Program is one of CMS's attempts to try to provide access to drugs for weight loss for people on Medicare Part D, but it is a program that is running completely outside of the Medicare Part D benefits. So it isn't a change in policy for Medicare Part D. It is instead that the government is paying for these drugs separate from the program right now.

So what were the original goals of the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge Program, and then how have those shifted in recent months? So originally CMS and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, CMMI, had proposed to put forward a demonstration project called the Balance Model that had intended to cover weight loss medications and provide lifestyle modification, counseling, and behavioral programs.

In order to test the benefits of making these drugs more widely available for people with different indications that are not currently covered under Medicare Part D. So this was going to be run as an experiment on expanding the benefit and getting information about potential cost savings. If we resolve people's health conditions or help them live healthier live...

NEJM Interview: Stacie Dusetzina on a new program that will allow Medicare Part D enrollees to obtain GLP-1 medications for use for weight loss.

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NEJM Interview: Stacie Dusetzina on a new program that will allow Medicare Part D enrollees to obtain GLP-1 medications for use for weight loss.

Transcript

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Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.