Erik Paulsen: “With one in four seniors in America afflicted with obesity at a price of $50 billion a year to Medicare, it is apparent…”

“With one in four seniors in America afflicted with obesity at a price of $50 billion a year to Medicare, it is apparent that any attempts to put Medicare on a sound financial path must deal with this disease. That is why I am introducing the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act. The bill removes the exclusion for Medicare part D for covering drugs that treat and reduce obesity and makes more treatment options available for our seniors. When Medicare part D was created in 2006, there were no widely accepted FDA-approved obesity drugs on the market, so they were declared exempt from coverage. However, with significant medical advances, a number of FDA-approved weight loss drugs are now available, and our Medicare rules should reflect that. Mr. Speaker, obesity is responsible for nearly 20 percent of the increase in our health care spending over the last two decades, and it is time we take action to target, treat, and reduce obesity. ____________________”