Authored by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times,
France is set to begin reimbursing severely obese people for the cost of weight-loss drugs, French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said on May 28.
She said that Paris would subsidize the use of Danish company Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and American pharma giant Eli Lilly's Mounjaro from mid-June.
"I am quite proud, because we are the first country in the European Union to provide reimbursement ... on a permanent basis," Rist told French broadcaster TFI.
Officially, reimbursement will cover 65 percent of the cost of the weight-loss drugs, "but almost all patients will be covered" in full if they have "comorbidities, such as high blood pressure or diabetes," she said.
"For the vast majority, it will be 100 percent reimbursement," Rist added.
She said the eligibility criteria for the scheme would remain strict.
"It was decided to reimburse these medicines for people with severe obesity, with a body mass index above 35 with comorbidities, or above 40. These are people who may be candidates for surgery, for an operation to treat their obesity, and who will be able to receive these medicines if the doctor considers that they should be prescribed," Rist said.
She estimated the cost to French public finances at "around 100 million euros [$116 million] annually."
Elsewhere in Europe, though outside the EU, the UK and Switzerland both subsidize the use of similar weight-loss medications, known as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1s).
Source: ZeroHedge News
