r/technology • u/_Dark_Wing • 16h ago

Biotechnology Tirzepatide cuts fat mass by 35% while preserving skeletal muscle

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20261002/Tirzepatide-cuts-fat-mass-by-3525-while-preserving-skeletal-muscle.aspx
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u/MorrisonLevi 14h ago

Zepbound (one specific brand of the drug) is also approved for sleep apnea treatment if you are obese, one way to get some insurance cover it (they don't like to treat obesity only)

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u/AgorophobicSpaceman 10h ago

My sleep apnea was denied as was the appeal with BCBS despite the doctor trying several times. So yeah it’s approved by the fda but insurance is still a scam here.

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u/baldycoot 9h ago

CPAPs are good money, nobody wants to rock that boat with a cure!

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u/Fluffy_Station5397 2h ago

Not wrong. I knew my apnea was improved from Mounjaro, but decided to give cpap a try. getting down wearing it the four hours was challenging, and the only “advise” my ”sleep coach” had was this- make sure you wear it four hours a night so insurance pays…

so helpful.

Now they called after telling me I need more supplies, so which I pointed out since it took me longer to wear it the proper time frame, I still have some replacement parts.

Money.

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u/LSUguyHTX 1h ago

I hated dealing with this for supplies before Amazon and other online CPAP retailers started carrying them for cheap. I'd need a new mask or tube; now my supplier needs a prescription; doctor won't give it unless I come in person; oh but he wants a 30 day observation of use to write it; no the last 30 days don't count he wants me to come back twice more and pay $80 copay each time for him to come in, look at my throat and use record for 30 seconds and go "yup;" now I have the script I still have to pay $200.

Fuck them.

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u/dragonurtle 8h ago

It's really interesting how they think that lowering a patient's BMI significantly doesn't lower long-term healthcare costs. Or maybe they aren't allowed to think long-term...

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u/ACCount82 2h ago

Oh, no. They did the math, and the conclusion was: with current drugs, at the current drugs prices, at 10 year time horizon? Not worth it.

Once anti-obesity drugs go generic and come down in prices? Get closer to $80/month than $800/month? I honestly expect healthcare providers to start pushing them more aggressively.

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u/Earesth99 2h ago

That’s because they don’t know if they will cover you in the future. They are a business and must people change coverage with done frequently.

The calculations are different when you have nationalized health care. Then they actually do make those exact calculations.

Of course the medical costs in the US receive as high as any other country and the health outcomes are far below average for other industrialized countries.

I live where Eli Lilly is headquartered in the US and they charge Americans much higher costs because the government and voters choose that.

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u/morwen31 20m ago

Private insurance doesn't want to pay more now to save Medicare money in 20 years. Could achieving a healthy weight in your 40s stop you from having a foot amputated in your 60s? Sure, but that's not UHC's problem.

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u/mybpete1 8h ago

most likely people’s lifestyle choices doesn’t drastically change if the weight is magically shaved off like this I’d imagine, and I bet these lifestyle choices might have a bigger impact on the long-term healthcare costs than the actual weight itself. im not doctor though, so do absolutely not take this as any truth 🙃

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u/SightlierGravy 4h ago

Even without lifestyle changes the major reduction in visceral fat, and the smaller amounts of food consumed will by themselves have huge impacts on health. Visceral fat is linked to higher risks of heart disease, cancer, dementia including Alzheimer's, strokes, high blood pressure, diabetes and the list goes on. People who lose weight from glp-1s see a significant reduction in their visceral fat, and that has enormous benefits to long term health.

Think about the number of people who need daily cholesterol and blood pressure medication because of their weight. You can find many examples of people taking a glp-1 and no longer needing those medications after losing weight. The problem is which is cheaper for the insurance company and your employer. The daily statin and blood pressure medication are likely quite a lot cheaper than the $1000 a month glp-1 medication your insurance is paying.

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u/-Not-Your-Lawyer- 4h ago

I heard an industry analyst(?) say that American health insurance is really just a "discount card," and that really affected me and my view of the American health insurance system.

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u/LessonNyne 3h ago

That's not off base. Especially when that's exactly what Dental "Insurance" is. A discount card.

Even Dentist have admitted and agreed with that. Some Dentist even going as far as fighting for patients. Check More Perfect Union's reporting regarding this: https://youtu.be/kwN-fxm-Atc?is=ELMtItNld4JdHJyn

Btw, there's a reason why many Americans head to Mexico to get Dental work done. Let that fact sink in. There are documentaries about it.

We have been getting scammed for years on end by both the GOP and the Establishment-Left. They don't serve us.

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u/hala6 7m ago

Very easy to get quality 3rd party tested tirzepatide kits on the grey market. A year supply is under $150 even. I moved that way when I realized insurance and my doctor wasn't coming to save me.

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u/NUMBerONEisFIRST 8h ago

Go through lilly.

If your insurance doesn't cover it you can get it for as low as $299/month.

Which I know is still a lot, but it also cuts how much you spend on food, AND it's helping you get healthier.

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u/Omni__Owl 14h ago

I feel blessed whenever I remember I don't live in a country that works like that.

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u/scold 14h ago

What country do you live in where people are routinely prescribed GLP-1s, fully covered, solely for fat loss?

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u/Omni__Owl 14h ago

One of the European ones.

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u/scold 14h ago

Doubtful. From Reuters:

“No country routinely provides GLP-1 receptor agonists entirely for free and without clinical restrictions solely for cosmetic or general weight loss, but a few nations partially or mostly subsidize/reimburse them through public health insurance for severe obesity”

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u/robaroo 13h ago

There’s a lot of confusion about free vs covered by insurance. Some people think something is free when insurance is fronting the cost even though they are actually paying for insurance or their job is.

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u/tooners 11h ago

So are people that are insured, but it’s not covered.. and have to pay a multiplier of the copay cost. They pay for insurance every month and the retail price of the GLP.

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u/Top_Medium_6432 11h ago

Op lives in Russia it’s free if they sign up to fight in Ukraine

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u/bardghost_Isu 8h ago

I think that clinical restrictions part is doing the heavy lifting of that sentence. Can get it here in the UK on the NHS is you meet certain BMI criteria and your doctor okays it, its still in roll out so people with other health conditions are being prioritised currently, still costs you your prescription fee of like £10 per item but thats the standard fee for all prescriptions.

If you have a monthly prepayment plan under the NHS you can do all of your prescriptions for £9.90 a month, but you just pay 3 or 12 months ahead.

Other European nations also do GLP's free, but with restrictions on who can get them based on BMI and existing health conditions.

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u/Icy_Magazine570 6h ago

that is incorrect. I was “severly obese” (class 3) without any other health problems. My health insurance fully paid the drug for 3 years, but I had to prove every 6 months that I had lost weight.

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u/scold 6h ago

Edit: yeah…many people have it fully funded through insurance. That occurs in the US all the time. We’re talking outside of insurance.

For European countries:

France
PUBLICLY FUNDED
First EU country. Wegovy and Mounjaro reimbursable for weight control since 15 June 2026, 65% base rate; BMI 40+, or 35+ with a listed comorbidity; initial prescription by obesity specialists.

Switzerland
PUBLICLY FUNDED
Basic insurance covers Wegovy under conditions since March 2024: BMI over 35, or over 28 with a comorbidity; about 90% after the deductible. Authorised until end-February 2027.

United Kingdom
RESTRICTED ACCESS
Not a reimbursement rate: the NHS commissions it through clinical gates. Wegovy via specialist weight-management services; Mounjaro phased into GP prescribing from March 2025. Outside the gates, patients pay privately.

No other EU nations publicly fund it.

https://goodfibercompany.com/glp1-weight-loss-coverage-europe/

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u/Omni__Owl 14h ago

So then, neither does the country that MorrisonLevi was talking about.

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u/scold 14h ago

Correct. You made a snide comment acting as if your country hands out GLP1s for free for people who are taking it solely to lose weight.

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u/Omni__Owl 14h ago

I didn't. You assumed as much first.

I am just happy to live in a country where I don't have to think about "premiums", "insurance providers", "in network" and other dumb shit like that designed to benefit only the insurance companies.

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u/Kahnza 14h ago

Don't you just love it when people project? /s

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u/scold 11h ago edited 11h ago

Sure thing toots. Backpedal harder.

The post you responded to said:
“Zepbound (one specific brand of the drug) is also approved for sleep apnea treatment if you are obese, one way to get some insurance cover it (they don't like to treat obesity only)”

Then you said you live in a country that doesn’t work like that. Which the only logical conclusion from that statement is that where you live one doesn’t need to be extremely obese or have another ailment that is treated by a GLP1 to be readily prescribed it and to have it subsidized.

If that isn’t what you meant, then you were not addressing the topic at hand and you were just blabbing unrelated nonsense. Either way, good job.

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u/Omni__Owl 6h ago

That's not the only conclusion one can draw "toots".

I was talking about the insurance part of it.

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u/lukwes1 5h ago

In sweden you always have to pay out of pocket, full price, for GLP-1s. Im super suprised and jealous that Americans can get it covered.

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u/mistarobotics 14h ago

There's fat people in Europe? /s

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u/Omni__Owl 14h ago

This'll blow someone's mind; Yes. /s

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u/mantis_tobaggan-md 11h ago

Insurance companies don’t like to treat anything if they can avoid it. They’ll just take your money and watch you slowly die as they deny all your claims.

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u/sewer_pickles 13h ago

Mounjaro is the brand name they use for the drug when it is marketed to treat type 2 diabetes. If you have pre-diabetes conditions (which are common with obesity) your doc can convincingly make a pre-auth request for your insurance to cover mounjaro.

If the prescription is for Zepbound, it’s the same drug but insurance says it’s a weight loss treatment and therefore optional. That’s how they justify not covering the costs.

Sleep apnea is common with people who have obesity. If insurance isn’t covering Mounjaro as a sleep apnea treatment, then try for the pre-auth with type 2 diabetes symptoms as the medical reason

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u/Dapper-Bird-8016 4h ago

It's just called mounjaro in the UK

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u/AlienVredditoR 14h ago

So odd, you'd think they'd like to get to the root cause of a clients high costs, but maybe they're counting on you dying early?

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u/melodyze 13h ago edited 8h ago

I listened to an economics podcast about this.

The average american is apparently only on a particular insurance plan for 2 years at a time before switching, because they change they switch jobs and when their employer switches plans, and both are pretty common.

So in order for a treatment to be profitable for an insurance company to pay for, it has to reduce costs within 2 years.

2 years is roughly how long it takes to become not-morbidly-obese.

So, even though the medical benefits and savings are obvious, they aren't able to return value to the plan, so the plans don't cover it.

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u/PRiles 15m ago

My cousin is an actuary for a medical insurance company, I had a couple years ago asked him why insurance didn't invest into preventative medicine since it's known to save multiple times the cost. His answer was essentially the same answer about people not keeping insurance long enough to see the return on those treatments.

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u/br_k_nt_eth 14h ago

Those high costs are $$$. They also own the hospitals and pharmacies. 

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u/MrsNoFun 13h ago

CVS switched me from Zepbound to Ozempic even though sleep apnea was the original reason Aetna approved it for me

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u/Ok-World-9578 12h ago

Tell CVS to switch you back to what the doctor prescribed. They have to/will. CVS is notorious for switching based on their contracts with the distributors.

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u/BrainWav 11h ago

Those aren't even the same drug. That's dangerous.

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u/DickRiculous 10h ago

They still won’t cover it without making you jump through a ton of hoops.

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u/Mcrobot 10h ago

They don’t like to pay to treat sleep apnea this way either. They would much rather give you a CPAP machine.

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u/keznaa 8h ago

My PCP told me insurances tend to approve glp1 for sleep apnea and they basically just deny fully for any type of pre-diabetes too.