He is not doing it to help individuals, but to make sure more public $ goes to fat cat pharma

I get it thru the VA at a deep discount on the copay. Always glad to save the VA money if we can.

This was probably started under Biden anyway.

Thanks for this trump, now release the Epstein files.

I'm skeptical, but it's not crazy considering how much we spend on healthcare/insurance and how many people using regular insurance are using them.

I still think the better solution would be addressing the root causes of these sort of health issues rather than yet another drug. Note not in an RFK Jr way, but yes our food should be addressed. Stop making sugary stuff cheaper than healthy stuff for example.

I just forwarded my nurse a study today that Ozempic is being trialed because it is improving autoimmune conditions.
I'm critical of the bad. Increasing debt is bad, but this is a win for the people I think.

Is the government paying $35 Billion for this?? I don't see that in any articles online nor in this article, just the heading. It says this is a reduction in prices from the manufactures to get the US in line and below global prices. The US paying more than other countries needs to be fixed for all our drugs.

Savings from Medicare care not needed because people taking it didn’t develop conditions associated with long term obesity.

The society health savings is enormous. Obesity is killing America. My friend on it was drinking herself to death nightly. The ozempic has stopped her drinking as well. The issue for her was that it cost over a thousand dollars a month.

Short term, they can contribute to gastropareisis (stomach paralysis) - an extremely challenging disease to treat, as well as pancreatitis (life threatening). Long term - who knows, because they haven't been around long enough. But those are pretty serious consequences.

I've had friends on both with really serious side effects.

We know very well the long term effects of that, and it's uniformly bad.

Even the worst case scenarios regarding Ozempic are less bad than our current situation with rampant obesity.

(or know anyone who has).

And we have no idea what the long term effects of Ozempic are - so there is no way to tell if the worst case scenarios retarding Ozempic are worse thatn obesity.

Brought about by his morbid obesity. He lost his job and went on disability.

Then they died of a massive heart attack, due to his obesity.

My wife is currently on Ozempic, and it's finally brought her diabetes under control without resorting to insulin.

Again, obesity is known to cause so many different lethal health consequences, including multiple types of cancer, that it's almost impossible that GLP-1 drugs (which have been on the market for 20 years now), could possibly be worse.

and sleep apnea

But it’s a question of whether the good outweighs the risk. 75% of Americans ore obese or overweight. Over 200 million. This is huge. They are literally documenting this as one of the reasons alcohol consumption is down. You can always search for negative.

and once you have gastroparesis, it is permanent. Monitoring by a doctor will not prevent it.

From a percentage perspective how many people are dying from that compared to gastroparesis?

In 2021 roughly 103,000 died directly from it and another 399,000 died had it on their death certificate. It also cost 400+ billion dollars.

https://diabetes.org/about-diabetes/statistics/about-diabetes

I couldn't easily find a number for the number of people dying from gastroparesis (preferably without also having diabetes since that would likely be the root cause of the gastroparesis) which suggests it's a statistically rare situation. Being concerned about a rare side effect without accounting for the potential savings isn't a great medical approach. Some very small number of people die from a vaccine response, but we still recommend vaccines (much to RFK Jr's dismay).

Read a couple articles about that a few months ago.

I tend to remember the side effects people I know have experienced - and I don't have friends yet who have experienced yet.

The $350 price is only available if purchased through the TrumpRx.gov website. Here's some information about how this isn't the deal it's purported to be:
The website deals would only be accessible for patients not using their health insurance, according to one of the government officials briefing reporters anonymously. And even then, the discounted medicines might not be affordable because they're based on high drug list prices. Consumers with health insurance could very well pay less at the pharmacy counter.

As a result, the average consumer likely will not benefit from the Trump administration's deal, says Ameet Sarpatwari, an assistant professor of population medicine at Harvard Medical School who specializes in pharmaceutical policy.

Otherwise it sounds like goodrx and other discount cards. I know people on Medicare that use them for medicines that would be much higher on their part D plan.

“The discounted price might not be affordable because they are based on high drug prices…”. How does that sentence even make sense? It’s not based on a percentage. It’s a set price dependent on dosage. $350 on average dropping to $250 next year.


If you have insurance, it’s a copay. So it’s less. If insurance doesn’t cover, which is most people now on weight loss, it’s dropping from over $1000 down to $350. If insurance works you would use that. The average consumer is buying it for weight loss not covered by insurance. Medicare cost drops to $50 a month. Once again, for the health and pocket of the average American, this is good.

I'd rather stick to compounded than send money to something with his name on it.

TrumpRx is just so, so late stage capitalism

Maybe he's jealous of Obama getting his name, unofficially, on the ACA.

Through my employer insurance (Aetna POS flavor insurance with Express Scripts), my husband pays $35 for a month supply of Ozempic; no coupon from the manufacturer, he is prescribed to treat type 2 diabetes and a few other conditions that require weight maintenance.
As other people mention, the VA has a negotiated price for people who have it prescribed.
There's also manufacturer's coupons - even if you're on Medicare (or Medicare advantage), if your doctor prescribes it as a necessity, you should be covered with a reduced cost -well under $350 - by the coupon; we went through that between 2005 and 2011 with Humira for a Psoriatic Arthritis condition before the insurance company allowed it on the formulary.
BTW, if you go to Costco in Canada, the average 90 day Ozempic prescription costs....$175 Canadian.
In Mexico, it's around $200 -$300 USD.
Currently, GoodRX has a deal with Novi-Nordisk to supply generic Ozempic to self-paying customers for around $500 a month (vice $1k), and if you were prescribed it, they will drop the price down to as little as $25 a month depending on your insurance policy or if your doctor has an plan arrangement with them.

There has always, always been a huge mark-up in the United States when it comes to the price of drugs, and lots of various excuses given....

"Research Costs" - The most expensive exploratory initial and breakthrough research is done at teaching hospitals, medical schools, and government run research facilities, and subsidized by governments and some university benefactors, and the pharmaceutical companies typically get the drug patented by picking up and paying for dosage efficacy and deployment testing but...okay. There are some costs...just not the entirety, or even a significant majority of the costs of research.

Legal and (US specific) Advertising Costs - well, now... that can be pretty expensive, especially since a company really needs get the most eyeballs on their new wonder drug while they still own the patent.
The US is one of the few countries that allows the advertising of prescription drugs to the general public. Most other countries allow informational presentations to prescribers. But not to potential patients.
Because your doctor, your pharmacist, is supposed to be scientifically trained and knowledgeable enough to understand when a particular chemical or therapy will work for your condition, and not usually be blinded by magical thinking or potential snake oil promises just to "make you feel better".

Manufacturing, QA, packaging, and shipping costs?
Yes, those are costs, but there are economies of scale, of leveraging common practices, that can cut those costs immensely. Anyone who's taken couple Business courses, whether or not they majored in Business, has walked through various scenarios on how to cut costs...

Basically, the US has pretty much been the Feed Trough for pharmaceutical companies since the 1970's and 70's, when Advertising regulations were loosened by the FDA and Commerce Department.

More corruption

Last edited Sat Nov 8, 2025, 03:11 PM - Edit history (1)

As an insurance agent, I see it every day. Medicare drug prices for 2026 are very high.

Health care reform is hard.

According to Bradley Katz, MD, PhD, an ophthalmologist at the John A. Moran Eye Center and professor in the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at the University of Utah and lead author of this study, it’s important for researchers to continue to examine how GLP-1 medications might impact other areas of a person’s health.

“Between 2-3% of the U.S. population received a prescription for one of these medications in 2023,” Katz told Medical News Today. “Because so many people are using these medications it’s critical to monitor any ill effects on the eye or other parts of the body.” For this investigative study, Katz and his team focused on nine patients with an average age of about 58, with five females and four males.

Seven of the study participants developed NAION, which Katz explained is a stroke of the optic nerve — the nerve that connects your eye to your brain — potentially causing irreversible vision loss in one or both eyes.

“One (participant) developed a stroke in the retina — this is the part of your eye that absorbs light and turns it into an electrical signal for your brain,” he continued. “This stroke also causes irreversible loss of vision in one eye.” “The ninth patient developed swelling in both optic nerves but did not lose vision,” Katz added.

EDIT

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/review-3-potentially-blinding-eye-conditions-glp-1-drugs-ozempic-mounjaro#GLP-1-meds-and-eye-conditions

TrumpRx.gov....."