ADA 2026: To Treat Or Not To Treat? There's A Lot Of Weight To the Question

Research evidence excerpt

ADA 2026: To Treat Or Not To Treat? There's A Lot Of Weight To the Question

ng this "big circle, zero sum game." To this, it really comes down to

seeing this as a preventative care option, similar to how statins were reimbursed and the realized benefit we have gotten

from that class of medicine. Questions around manufacturing costs, levers for lowering costs, and patient prioritization

continued to be top of mind here, but with how complicated and opaque the payer landscape is, it seems that most of

these questions will remain unanswered in the near-term.

Panel discussion. With the price tags on these weight loss therapies still overwhelming for many patients, a question

was raised on how to overcome the sticker shock. The panelists pointed to programs such as FlyteHealth model, as

well as broader recognition of the cost of your health and the longer term savings earned from avoiding escalating

healthcare costs. The changes have been slow to implement, but the panelists agree that they are starting to see a

shift in people yearning for access and wanting to see the landscape change. Concerns were raised on what might

happen for beneficiaries if the BRIDGE program ends, but it seemed generally understood here that the administration

is aware of the program's importance and need for a longer term solution. What this program looks like is just a start

of a coverage plan to temporarily buy time for a more permanent solution. If healthier patients do come out of the

program, the expectation will be that more and more healthcare professionals and patients participate. Finally, as more

and more patients seek treatment from PCPs for weight loss, it seems that primary care doctors are already beginning

to be overwhelmed by the inundation of new patients.