Coverage of weight-loss drugs should be a no-brainer for state's Medicaid program
Packages of the injectable weight-loss medication Wegovy are shown (Photo illustration by)
If North Carolinians lived in a perfect world, everyone would have easy access to plenty of healthy and affordable food, the self-control to resist junk food, and genes that would let them stay active, trim and fit throughout their lives.
Unfortunately, we don't live in such a world.
And it's in light of this that it was a no-brainer for state Health and Human Services officials to make prescriptions for weight-loss drugs a covered expense under the state Medicaid program.
As Jonathan Ray – a Charlotte physician assistant – wrote in a recent essay for NC Newsline, these medicines have helped thousands upon thousands of people to achieve significant weight loss, improve their metabolic health, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.
Unfortunately, recent actions by state legislative leaders could end the funding for these essential medications.
The bottom line: In the imperfect world we inhabit, weight-loss drugs save health, lives and money. It would be cruel and foolish to end Medicaid coverage for these essential medicines.
For NC Newsline, I'm Rob Schofield.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Kentucky families must renew Medicaid for first time since pandemic. Here's what to know
Starting in July, thousands of families across Kentucky must again renew their Medicaid enrollment— a process one local health provider warns could leave some without necessary insurance coverage. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kentucky halted annual Medicaid renewals, allowing participants to automatically be reenrolled. In 2023, the state ended that policy, requiring Medicaid recipients to go back to submitting enrollment paperwork every year — except for those in the Kentucky Children's Health Insurance Program (KCHIP). KCHIP is a free health insurance program for families with an income at or under 218% of the federal poverty level — or up to $70,000 per year for a family of four. Children under 19, pregnant mothers and mothers within one year of postpartum are eligible to receive KCHIP coverage. When recertification resumed in 2023, the state introduced several flexibilities to ensure vulnerable populations could remain covered, including extending automatic renewal for KCHIP participants. The goal was 'simplify the renewal process, reduce inappropriate terminations and allow the state to manage the increased workload,' according to a document from the Kentucky Department of Medicaid Services. Now, that flexibility is ending, meaning thousands of Kentucky families will start receiving notices to update and recertify their Medicaid eligibility. Here's what to know. Families will get a letter when it's time to recertify and should watch for notices by mail, phone and email. There are also several ways to check Medicaid eligibility and recertify if needed. Visit Call 855.4kynect (855.459.6328) to speak with a caseworker. Visit your local Department for Community Based Services office. Contact a state kynector for assistance through Once enrolled, coverage lasts for 12 months. Even if changes make families ineligible for the program, children retain coverage for the year. Families can miss notifications to reenroll for a lot of reasons, said Bart Irwin, CEO of Family Health Centers, a nonprofit primary care provider with locations across Louisville. Maybe they've changed addresses, incorrectly filled out paperwork or missed deadlines — but that doesn't mean they are not financially eligible for Medicaid or KCHIP. "There's a connection that if parents or caregivers lose Medicaid, it's highly likely a child will lose Medicaid too," Irwin said. "I don't quite understand the connection, but one [reason] I would think is that if the parents miss the opportunity or don't respond correctly to the state's inquiry on their own behalf, it's likely they're not going to on their child's behalf, too." If someone does not respond to a renewal by the deadline, they will be unenrolled from coverage. KCHIP participants and families can call 855-459-6328 as soon as they learn they are unenrolled for lack of response. If they are determined eligible within 90 days of termination, coverage may be rolled back to the day of termination. Irwin said recertification for the KCHIP program could artificially deflate Medicaid rolls, similar to when the state stopped automatic enrollment for adults on Medicaid in 2023. Between April, when recertification restarted, and December 2023, Jefferson County saw more than 28,500 drop off the program's rolls, according to data from the Cabinet of Health and Family Services. Children make up a substantial portion of Medicaid recipients in Jefferson County, with over 108,000 kids receiving coverage. A third of Family Health Centers' Medicaid patients are children under 19. "It would be the same process as going through our kynectors and helping them redo certification, we know they're eligible, right?" Irwin said. "It's going to be the bureaucratic process that's going to harm the kids. It's missing the letter, or not putting the right information in, or forgetting some information, that's what's going to knock kids off." Reach reporter Keely Doll at kdoll@ This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky families must again renew Medicaid. Here's how to recertify
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Confused about the COVID-19 booster? Here's what children, pregnant women in Kentucky need to know
The guidance about who can and should receive COVID-19 vaccines and boosters is shifting. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on May 27 that the COVID-19 vaccine will no longer be included in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended immunization schedule for healthy children. Instead of lumping it in with recommended vaccines, doctors will utilize a shared decision-making model with parents or guardians to determine whether a child should be vaccinated. The same day, the CDC also rolled back its recommendation that pregnant women receive the vaccine, which clashes with previous guidance. These changes are unprecedented in the sense that the CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices traditionally meets and votes on changes to the immunization schedule, or recommendations on who should get vaccines. From there, the director of the CDC typically makes a final call ― but the committee did not vote on the changes Kennedy announced on May 27. There have been reports, too, that this fall U.S. Food and Drug Administration may limit vaccine availability for healthy adults. With all this in mind, The Courier Journal sat down with Dr. Steven Stack, the commissioner for the Kentucky Department for Public Health, who guided Kentucky through the COVID-19 pandemic. We also checked in with Dr. Kristina Bryant, who serves as associate medical director for Louisville Metro's Department of Public Health and Wellness, as well as UofL Health's Dr. Valerie Briones-Pryor, who treated patients on frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic and was one of the first five people in Kentucky to receive the vaccine. More: COVID isn't over. RFK Jr.'s vaccine recommendation is a terrible choice. | Opinion All three experts stressed that the most important thing a person can do amid these changes is consult your primary care physician or your child's pediatrician about what's best for your household. But there are still many question marks about what these changes could mean for the public. If you're confused by the recommendations coming out of federal government regarding the COVID vaccine and booster availability, you're not alone. Here's what a few Kentucky medical experts have to say on the topic: COVID-19 has largely shifted from a deadly pandemic to a virus that doctors are able to control, Briones-Pryor said. There are more than 200 different kinds of respiratory viruses in humans, and even the common cold can be deadly when it hits a person who is immunocompromised. In many cases, the treatment is the same whether the virus is COVID-19 or not. Patients usually need rest, fluids and time to heal. 'It's evolved to such a way that now I don't ask if they're vaccinated anymore, because they all come in with respiratory viral illnesses and and there's really no treatment for it,' Briones-Pryor said. COVID-19 remains a serious respiratory disease, and it still kills far more people than influenza does, Stack said. People who keep current with their immunizations are less likely to end up in the hospital with complications from COVID-19. Adults, in general, are more likely than children to get sick from COVID-19, Stack said, but children often become sicker from COVID-19 than they do from most other regular viral respiratory illnesses. 'The thing that has changed is we've had a federal election, and the administration has changed,' Stack, the commissioner for the Kentucky Department for Public Health, said. 'And with that change in administration, (there's) a new approach to messaging related to infectious diseases, immunizations and public health in general, so that that's what's changed.' More: As memories fade, playing hockey is frozen in time for Louisville man with Alzheimer's The COVID-19 vaccine is safe for pregnant women and it protects the mother and the unborn child from the disease, Stack said. While federal agencies have stopped recommending the COVID vaccine for pregnant women, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has not. Stack cited a statement the college released on May 27. 'ACOG is concerned about and extremely disappointed by the announcement that HHS will no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy,' said Dr. Steven J. Fleischman, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. "As ob-gyns who treat patients every day, we have seen firsthand how dangerous COVID-19 infection can be during pregnancy and for newborns who depend on maternal antibodies from the vaccine for protection. We also understand that despite the change in recommendations from HHS, the science has not changed.' The COVID-19 vaccines will still be available for children, under a shared decision-making model, Bryant, with Louisville Metro's Department of Public Health and Wellness, said. The language and approach doctors use are the primary difference between a shared decision-making model and the recommendation that existed up until this point. With a recommendation from the CDC, the COVID-19 vaccine would be offered as readily as immunizations for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, Bryant said. With a shared decision-making model, the doctor would tell a parent the vaccine is available and offer some education about why they might want to consider it, Bryant said. Then the doctor would ask if the parent has questions, and if they'd like their child to have the vaccine. Bryant also stressed that even with this change, the CDC has not advised against the COVID-19 vaccine for children. 'I would say to parents that, as a reminder, the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective,' Bryant said. 'This vaccine underwent the most rigorous safety studies In U.S. history ... and there have been multiple studies that have shown that the vaccine is safe and effective in children and adults.' More: Kentucky marks first whooping cough deaths since 2018. What we know Stack isn't worried about COVID-19 overwhelming hospitals in its present form. The virus would have to mutate in an unexpected way to cause the chaos it did in 2020. It's still too early to know whether insurance companies will continue to cover the COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant women, children and healthy adults. In general, insurance companies have followed the federal recommended vaccine schedule, Stack said. However, Stack said, the companies follow those schedules 'in the confidence that a rigorous and transparent scientific process makes recommendations for what should or should not be on that schedule, and who should or should not get certain types of immunizations depending on their risks of harm from the diseases.' That hasn't been the case because the CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices didn't meet and vote on this guidance. 'I think there's a lot of concern in the scientific community and in the medical community about whether these recommendations are based in sound science,' Stack said. Overall, Stack said, if vaccines are discouraged or not recommended, it could create confusion for commercial and public health insurers about what they are required to cover. 'It really does throw into uncertainty 'will Kentuckians and will the American people continue to have access to immunizations that have clearly protected countless numbers of people and saved an enormous number of lives over the years?'' Stack said. It can be difficult to keep up with changes and advancements in science, Briones-Pryor said, so it's important to talk with your primary care physician to figure out what's best for you and your household. She noted that throughout her career, she's seen several medicines go off the market and frequency of preventative screenings, such as pap smears and colonoscopies, shift overtime. 'Change is hard, especially in medicine,' Briones-Pryor said. 'We don't do change well as a society. ... We continue to learn about the things that we do (in medicine), and hope that we can find things that are better and safer. It's been an interesting ride.' Practicing good hygiene can help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses. Briones-Pryor recommended washing hands frequently for the full-length of the 'Happy Birthday,' avoiding touching your face, carrying hand sanitizer and trying to cover all coughs and sneezes. More: Kentucky families must renew Medicaid for first time since pandemic. Here's what to know The CDC recommends that anyone who may have COVID-19 or another respiratory virus stay home and avoid in-person contact with other people. A person can return to their normal activities when your symptoms have improved overall and you've been fever-free for at least 24 hours. Symptoms typically include fever, chills, fatigue, cough, runny nose and headache. The CDC encourages added precautions during the first five days of normal activities such as physical distancing, keeping good hygiene and wearing a mask. Information from the Courier Journal's sister paper, USA Today, was used in this report. Reach Courier Journal reporter Maggie Menderski at mmenderski@ This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Is the COVID vaccine necessary now? Read what Kentucky experts say
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
RFK Jr. Appoints High-Profile COVID Shot Skeptic To Vaccine Committee
Robert Malone, one of the eight new members named by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday to serve on the committee tasked with advising the U.S. government on vaccines, has a long track record of sharing conspiracy theories about life-saving COVID shots. Malone, a former mRNA researcher who also runs a blog on Substack with over 357,000 subscribers that he has used to spread COVID misinformation, gained prominence spreading baseless claims about the pandemic, including in an interview on Joe Rogan's podcast in December 2021. During the three-hour sitdown, Malone falsely suggested that former President Joe Biden lied about being vaccinated for COVID while receiving his booster on live TV, and claimed that Israel, where over two-thirds of the population had received the vaccine, had a higher mortality rate than Gaza and the West Bank, which had lower vaccination rates, despite figures pointing to the contrary, according to The New York Times. He also drew a comparison between the country's pandemic policies and medical experiments in Nazi Germany, and accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of hypnotizing a third of the U.S. population into believing his recommendations on COVID. Over 270 scientists, medical professionals, professors and science communicators wrote to Spotify, the company hosting Rogan's podcast, calling on the company to moderate misinformation on the platform, citing the Malone interview as an example of damaging public trust in scientific research. Malone's account on X, formerly Twitter, was also suspended shortly before that interview after he posted a video on the platform questioning the safety of the Pfizer vaccine. It has since been restored. Separately, Malone has also baselessly suggested that COVID vaccines are 'not working' and could damage children's brains, hearts and immune system, and also cause a form of AIDS, according to The Associated Press, another false claim. Besides, Malone, who has a medical degree from Northwestern University, claims he is the inventor of mRNA vaccines — a statement that is widely disputed by scientists, including some who worked closely with him, according to the Times. Kennedy, a fellow prominent vaccine skeptic, on Monday penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal announcing he was removing all members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, which is tasked with assessing the safety and efficacy of vaccines to curb the spread of diseases. 'A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science,' Kennedy wrote. Two days later, he announced eight new members for the panel, including Malone, a move he claimed would help restore the public's faith in vaccines. 'I will do my best to serve with unbiased objectivity and rigor,' Malone said in response to his new assignment. RFK Jr. Drops All Members Of U.S. Vaccine Advisory Panel Top COVID Vaccine Adviser Quits After RFK Jr. Changes Recommendations
