When Serena Williams opened about her weight reduction struggles, she not solely joined a rising listing of celebrities overtly discussing GLP-1 drugs but in addition pushed the problem of entry and affordability into the highlight.
“I simply couldn’t get my weight to the place I wanted to be at a wholesome place and consider me, I don’t take shortcuts. I do all the things however shortcuts,” Williams advised NBC’s “Immediately” present.
Williams, who mentioned she has misplaced 31 kilos since persistently taking the medicine this yr, is utilizing her platform to normalize use of the medication and push again on the narrative that taking them is the “straightforward means out.”
In keeping with the newest KFF Well being Monitoring Ballot, one in eight U.S. adults (12%) report having taken a GLP-1 drug comparable to Ozempic, Wegovy, or Mounjaro. Use is greater amongst folks with power situations, with 43% of adults with diabetes, 26% with coronary heart illness, and 22% of these advised by a health care provider they have been chubby or overweight prior to now 5 years.
Black adults (18%) are extra probably than white adults (10%) to report utilizing GLP-1 medication. The ballot additionally discovered that affordability is a serious barrier, with greater than half (54%) of adults who’ve taken the drugs saying that they had problem paying for them. Even amongst these with insurance coverage, 22% mentioned it was “very troublesome” to afford.
The ballot discovered that 79% of adults who’ve used GLP-1s acquired them by their major care physician or a specialist, with smaller numbers accessing them by telehealth, on-line suppliers, or medical spas.
Within the District, the obstacles are notably steep. Medicaid covers 42.4% of town’s inhabitants, but it doesn’t cowl weight problems drugs. Diet counseling is roofed, and bariatric surgical procedure is allowed underneath restrictions, however sufferers prescribed GLP-1 medication for weight administration are left to pay out-of-pocket, the place listing costs vary from $936 to $1,349 per 30 days earlier than insurance coverage.
This leaves many residents with out entry to remedies considered as breakthroughs in tackling weight problems and diabetes. Town experiences that 24.3% of adults reside with weight problems and eight% with diabetes.
“They’re maintaining lots of people who want this drug from getting it as a result of it’s costly,” Tommy Zondo, 53, advised The Washington in August 2024, “[and] as a result of they’re going to lose some huge cash [the more prescriptions they approve for coverage.”
For Williams, family history and health concerns shaped her decision. “I had a lot of issues with my knees, especially after I had my kid. That, quite frankly, definitely had an effect on maybe some wins that I could have had in my career,” she said.
Now, the tennis star is expressing relief. “I just feel normal again,” Williams said. “It feels really good.”
