January 31,2025
About half the public support the use of weight loss drugs to treat obesity or weight-related conditions for adults and for these medications to be covered by Medicaid and Medicare.
The FDA approved types of GPL-1 diabetes treatments for weight loss including versions of Mounjaro and Ozempic. The weight loss version of Mounjaro is Zepbound, and Wegovy is the weight loss form of Ozempic.
Fifty-four percent of adults think it’s a good idea to use weight loss drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, or Zepbound for adults with obesity or a weight related condition.
But there is less support for their use by teenagers or people without obesity or a weight-related condition who want to lose weight. Thirty-five percent say it’s a good idea to prescribe GLP-1 medication for teenagers with obesity or teens with a weight-related health condition. Fewer support the idea of using these drugs for either adults (12%) or teenagers (8%) who want to lose weight when they don’t have obesity or weight related illnesses.
In November 2024, the Biden administration proposed that Medicare and Medicaid be required to cover GLP-1 drugs for people with obesity. About half of the public favor covering weight loss drugs through Medicare, the national health care insurance program mainly for seniors, and Medicaid, a government health care program for low-income people and people with certain disabilities. Democrats are more likely to favor this proposal than Republicans or independents.
The nationwide poll was conducted January 9-13, 2025 using the AmeriSpeak® Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,147 adults. The overall margin of sampling error is +/- 3.9 percentage points.
- Suggested Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. “Many see the benefit of using weight loss drugs for adults with obesity” (January 2025). [https://apnorc.org/projects/many-see-the-benefit-of-using-weight-loss-drugs-for-adults-with-obesity/]
