About one in eight adults (12%) say they’ve taken certainly one of an more and more standard class of pharmaceuticals often called GLP-1s which are used for weight reduction and to deal with diabetes and scale back the danger of coronary heart illness and stroke, a brand new KFF Well being Monitoring Ballot finds. This contains 6% of adults who say they’re at present taking certainly one of these medicine, which embrace Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro
The shares of adults who report ever taking these medicine is highest amongst folks with diabetes (43%), adopted by these with coronary heart illness (26%) and people who have weight problems or obese (22%), the ballot finds.
Amongst those that report ever taking the medicine, most (61%) say that they took the medicine to deal with a power situation comparable to diabetes or coronary heart illness – both alone (39%) or together with reducing weight (23%). Practically 4 in ten (38%) say that they took the medicine solely to drop a few pounds.
Listing costs for GLP-1 medicine can prime $1,000 for a month’s provide previous to insurance coverage protection, rebates, and low cost coupons. About half (54%) of those that report ever taking the medicine say it was tough to afford them, together with one in 5 (22%) who say it was “very tough.”
Having insurance coverage protection makes little distinction to sufferers’ perceptions of the medicine’ affordability, with related shares of these lined by insurance coverage saying the medicine had been tough (53%) or very tough (23%) to afford.
Many of the Public Favors Medicare Protection of Weight-Loss Medicine Even After Listening to Competing Arguments
Whereas 9% of older adults ages 65 and older report ever taking the medicine, few (1%) say they did so solely for weight reduction – possible reflecting Medicare’s prohibition on the protection of prescription weight-loss medicine. Medicare covers a few of the medicine for diabetes and different situations.
About six in ten adults (61%) say that Medicare ought to cowl these medicine when prescribed for weight reduction for people who find themselves obese. This contains related shares throughout age teams, and greater than half of Democrats, independents, and Republicans.The ballot additionally examined the affect of arguments for and in opposition to Medicare protection, with quick descriptions explaining that it may improve premiums for folks with Medicare and place monetary strain on the Medicare program and the federal finances, however that it may assist extra folks afford the drugs and enhance the well being and high quality of lifetime of people who find themselves obese.These arguments did little to vary the general public’s views, with related shares of the general public total and the varied subgroups persevering with to favor Medicare protection.
Different findings embrace:
• About eight in ten (82%) adults say they’ve heard at the least “a bit of” about these medicine, together with about three in ten (32%) who say they’ve heard “lots” about them. Consciousness is up since July 2023, when about one in 5 (19%) mentioned they heard lots in regards to the medicine.
• About eight in ten (79%) adults who’ve taken GLP-1 medicine report getting these medicine or a prescription for them from their main care physician or a specialist. Fewer report getting them from a web-based supplier or web site (11%), a medical spa or aesthetic medical heart (10%), or someplace else (2%).
Designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at KFF. The survey was carried out April 23-Could 1, 2024, on-line and by phone amongst a nationally consultant pattern of 1,479 U.S. adults in English and in Spanish. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 share factors for the total pattern. For outcomes based mostly on different subgroups, the margin of sampling error could also be greater.
