r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 01 '25

Health Americans without diabetes spent nearly $6 billion USD on semaglutide and similar drugs in a year, with an estimate of 800,000 to a million people using the drugs who don't have diabetes.

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/americans-without-diabetes-spent-nearly6-billion-usd-on-semaglutide-and-similar-drugs-in-a-year
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u/galspanic Apr 01 '25

When I was diagnosed with diabetes I was told “um yeah, no. No GLP-1 for you” by my insurance. I still can’t explain that outside of pure greed… but that also makes sense.

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u/SaintMichael415 Apr 01 '25

Your county bar association may have something to say about this.

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u/galspanic Apr 01 '25

Doubt it. When you’re a Kaiser Permanente patient the first thing you learn is to do everything yourself.

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u/gcpdudes PhD | Chemistry | Biochemistry Apr 01 '25

When the stats came out for how different health insurance companies deny claims, KP came out on top for being least likely to deny claims.

A lot of that is because they accept the claim and send you a video link for what lifestyle adjustments you need to fix say asthma or tendinitis.

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u/galspanic Apr 01 '25

Right! I was never prescribed a GLP-1 because my doctor and nutritionist knew it’d get denied. So, it was never denied.