Latest / Off the Chart: A Business of Medicine Podcast
S1 Ep163: What physicians need to know about Medicare's new obesity drug coverage, with Tracy Zvenyach, Ph.D., M.S., RN, of the Obesity Action Coalition
For years, Medicare and Medicaid effectively excluded coverage for the medications proven to treat obesity. That is starting to change. In 2026, CMS rolled out two new programs, the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge and the Medicaid-focused BALANCE Model, that open access to GLP-1 drugs for eligible beneficiaries and signal a shift toward treating obesity as a complex chronic disease.
In this episode, Medical Economics Senior Editor Richard Payerchin speaks with Tracy Zvenyach, vice president for advocacy and research at the Obesity Action Coalition, about what those programs do and what they mean for…
The skinny
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