RFK Jr. reverses course and backs expanded GLP-1 access

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. publicly backed the Trump administration's plan to lower prices and expand access to GLP-1 obesity medications at a White House event on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, a notable shift for an official whose Make America Healthy Again movement has opposed Medicare coverage of weight-loss drugs. ^[1]

Speaking in the Oval Office with the chief executives of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk standing nearby, Kennedy called the deal "a momentous accomplishment." ^[1] He added: "This is a tool in the toolkit. It is not a silver bullet. It is an arrow in our quiver." ^[1]

STAT described Kennedy as "uncharacteristically chummy with pharma executives" as he cheered the plan, noting that he has "railed against drugmakers in the past" and that his lifestyle-focused MAHA movement has opposed Medicare coverage of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. ^[1] The reversal, according to STAT's reporting, left some MAHA followers wondering whether the movement had lost its way. ^[1]

What the deal covers

STAT reported that the president's deal is intended to expand access to the popular drugs made by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, "including for Medicare and Medicaid patients." ^[1] Lilly makes tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro and Zepbound; Novo Nordisk makes semaglutide, sold as Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus. STAT's companion coverage of the announcement focused on discounts for Wegovy and Zepbound through the administration's TrumpRx effort. ^[1]

Beyond those points, the details available in this source are limited — the full STAT story is behind a subscription paywall. ^[1] The specific prices, the effective dates, which patients would qualify, what a Medicare or Medicaid beneficiary would pay out of pocket, and how any of it would be implemented are not spelled out in the source material available here. Those specifics are not yet known from this reporting and should not be assumed.

Why it matters for patients

For people in the U.S. who take or are considering semaglutide or tirzepatide, cost and coverage are usually the deciding factors, not the prescription itself. Medicare has historically not covered drugs prescribed purely for weight loss, and MAHA — the movement associated with the health secretary — had opposed adding that coverage. ^[1] A public endorsement from the head of the Department of Health and Human Services signals that the federal posture toward paying for these medicines has changed, at least at the level of rhetoric and this particular agreement. ^[1]

That matters because the health secretary oversees the agencies that run Medicare and Medicaid, and because federal signals often influence what state programs and private insurers do next. Still, a statement of support in the Oval Office is not the same as a coverage rule that a pharmacist can bill against. Until program details are published, it is not possible to say from these sources whether a given patient's out-of-pocket cost will change, or when.

Kennedy's own framing is worth noting for expectation-setting: he called expanded availability "a tool in the toolkit" and explicitly "not a silver bullet." ^[1] That language positions the drugs as one part of a broader chronic disease strategy rather than a standalone fix.

What happens next

The announcement was made Nov. 6, 2025, at the White House with the Lilly and Novo Nordisk CEOs present. ^[1] What has not been established in this source is the timeline for implementation, the legal or regulatory steps required to change Medicare and Medicaid coverage, or whether the political friction inside MAHA — which STAT reported was considerable — affects how the plan is carried out. ^[1] Patients watching for concrete changes will need to look for official program documents from the relevant federal agencies, which are not part of this reporting.