In recent years, medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro have revolutionised weight loss treatment in Australia and beyond.
Approved for diabetes management, these drugs are now subsidised by taxpayer money.
However, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) has refused to extend subsidies for their use in weight loss for individuals without diabetes.
This decision has left Australians struggling with obesity facing high out-of-pocket costs, potentially hundreds of dollars each month.
So, should taxpayers fund weight loss treatments for others?
On Wednesday afternoon’s episode of The Briefing, we sat down with Jonathan Karnon, Professor of Health Economics at Flinders University, and Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing at The University of Queensland, discussed the broader implications.
“The debate about personal versus societal responsibility for health has been going on for an extremely long time,” Ball said.
Ball explained that although individual responsibility for health is important, the burden of weight-related chronic conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, already impacts the healthcare system.
“For someone who’s concerns that their hard earned tax dollars are being used for someone else’s weight loss medication, I would say to them that they’re already paying for the costs that the healthcare system accrues because of these many weight-related chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type two diabetes, and even some cancers,” she said.
Ball said that supporting weight loss medications could reduce future health costs, thus benefiting taxpayers in the long run.
She explained that the decision to not include medications like Ozempic and Wegovy for weight loss purposes in the PBS was due to concerns about cost-effectiveness.
The committee that assesses medications decided these drugs weren’t a good fit for public funding at the time. However, the situation is changing.
“If people were wanting support for lifestyle changes or were able to access that, such as additional support for allied health providers, that’s also going to reduce costs on our healthcare system and be a good investment,” Karnon said.
Recent research from the US has shown that people using these medications have experienced significant health improvements, such as fewer heart attacks, lower rates of diabetes, and even fewer cases of illnesses like COVID-19 and the flu.
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