White House rule would expand coverage of anti-obesity drugs

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Tuesday proposed expanding drug coverage under Medicare and Medicaid to include anti-obesity drugs — a move rebuking Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s critique of the popular medications.

The proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services seeks to expand when Medicare and Medicaid can cover anti-obesity drugs, sold as Zepbound, Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy.

The obesity drug coverage changes were part of a larger proposed rule that also would make changes to prior authorization, provider directories and beneficiary protection.

Currently, Medicare covers the weight loss drugs in question for beneficiaries diagnosed with diabetes or cardiovascular disease who are also classified as overweight or obese. All state Medicaid programs cover the drugs for patients with diabetes, but only about a quarter cover the drug for weight management.

—CQ-Roll Call

Trump Jr. says White House press room could replace journalists with podcasters, ‘friends’

Donald Trump Jr. claims his father’s White House Briefing Room could potentially swap out traditional journalists for podcasters and other content creators they consider “our friends.”

Speaking on the latest episode of his “Triggered With Donald Trump Jr.” podcast, the president-elect’s eldest son claimed talks have been underway to load the deck with friendly faces better known for supporting than questioning Donald Trump.

The topic came up when Trump Jr.’s co-host, Michael Knowles, suggested it was time to “take away some people’s seats.” Trump Jr. revealed the very matter was discussed during a recent flight with his dad and Elon Musk.

“We were talking about the podcast world and some of our friends and (Joe) Rogan and guys like you,” Trump Jr. said. “Given how the media has behaved… we had the conversation about opening up the press room to a lot of these independent journalists.”

—New York Daily News

Is there a chemical link to memory loss? Penn researchers get $11 million to study dementia causes

PHILADELPHIA — The National Institutes of Health have awarded an epidemiology professor at the University of Pennsylvania $11 million to study the link between chemical exposures and dementia.

The project will test blood and urine samples from thousands of people, looking for traces of environmental chemicals such as pesticides and metals, and seeing which are found more frequently in people who eventually develop Alzheimer's and similar disorders.

The goal is "to understand more about environmental potential contributors to cognitive decline and Alzheimer's," said lead author Aimin Chen, a senior environmental epidemiologist at Penn.

The researchers will study samples collected from people who have been followed since the 1980s as part of a long-term study about the risks of coronary artery disease. The participants joined the study when they were an average of 25 years old, so they are soon to be in their 60s, when the signs of cognitive decline can start to appear.

—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Pakistan’s Khan supporters plan sit-in after deadly protest

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party has announced a sit-in after thousands of his supporters breached roadblocks and clashed with police for two days to converge in Islamabad in deadly protests that killed at least six people.

The violence erupted when protesters demanding the release of jailed opposition leader Khan entered the capital late Monday, defying efforts by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government to stop them from entering Islamabad. The South Asian nation’s KSE-100 Index fell 3.2%, the most in 11 months, at close, swinging from an earlier gain of as much as 1.8%.

Ali Amin Gandapur, a senior leader of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, announced the sit-in at a key intersection, known as D-Chowk, until their demands were met, the party said. The location is outside the capital’s Red Zone that is hosting Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who is on an official three-day visit to Pakistan since Monday. The area houses all key state buildings from the Parliament to the Supreme Court and embassies.

The government ministers and leaders of Khan’s party have blamed each other for the violence that forced Pakistan’s government to call in the army to secure key areas of the capital. Sharif’s administration gave the army permission to “shoot on sight,” according to reports by local television channels.

—Bloomberg News