Anna Wilde Mathews
speaker
275 appearances
5 recordings
1 series
first heard Aug 2017
last heard Sep 2023
Anna Wilde Mathews’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
Well, the first thing is obviously to see a doctor.
These are prescription medications and people can't just go to the drugstore and pick them up.
And it is also true that these medications can have significant side effects.
And we are told by the physicians we interviewed for the story, it is important to be under the care of a physician, both when you seek to get the drug and once you're on it.
If your doctor does agree that one of these drugs is a good fit for you, that you could benefit, typically then there's a process that you and your doctor will have to go through seeking approval from your insurance company.
That's not always the case, but it is increasingly and often the case.
Well, it is true that a lot of employers and a lot of insurance plans don't cover drugs explicitly for weight loss.
Some do, but many don't.
In the past, it has sometimes been considered, and I will put air quotes around this, a lifestyle or, again, air quotes, cosmetic issue.
That thinking is definitely evolving in the medical establishment.
Physicians often now consider obesity not, again, quote, lifestyle issue, but really a health issue and a medical condition that needs to be treated.
But again, in the past, a lot of insurance plans haven't treated weight loss drugs as something that was vital to cover.
it's often not the only green light.
So if a physician prescribes one of these drugs, again, typically there's a process that is kicked off.
The physician will also often have to apply for authorization for the drug to be covered by the insurance plan, often called prior authorization.
So there may be a form that the physician has to fill out or perhaps a letter that they might have to write
Typically, the health plan is looking for evidence that proves that you really do need the drug.
If you have type 2 diabetes and you're seeking access to Ozempic or Monjaro, you may have to show, first of all, that you do have diabetes.
And then in some cases, they might want evidence that you have already previously tried a different drug for diabetes and perhaps not gotten the results that you were hoping for.
If you don't have diabetes,
Showing 121–140 of 275 · page 7 of 14
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