Medicare’s Part D policy is blocking progress needed to achieve Black health equity

A new and effective class of anti-obesity medicines, along with lifestyle interventions and sometimes bariatric surgery, can help stem the rising tide of obesity in the United States. But outdated rules set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services make access to these new medicines nearly impossible for the 50 million Americans covered by Medicare and its prescription drug coverage program. The American Heart Association (AHA) first recognized obesity as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in 1998. Yet more than 25 years later, skyrocketing rates of obesity remain one of the leading causes of compromised cardiovascular health, and cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death in the United States. advertisement Black Americans have suffered disproportionately: no other demographic faces higher incidence of both obesity and cardiovascular diseases, including heart attack, stroke, hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol, and congestive heart failure. As members of the Association of Black Cardiologists and women in medicine, we believe it is a moral and medical imperative to address the obesity epidemic before it gets even worse. The tools needed to do that are within our grasp. But outdated — and dangerous — views of obesity as a lifestyle choice rather...