President-elect Donald Trump has chosen two prominent men to lead health-related affairs in his administration, Mehmet Oz, MD, and Robert Kennedy, Jr.
While the two leaders will be leading health affairs, they differ on one key issue — GLP-1 weight loss medications.
Dr. Oz has publicly praised GLP-1s for their benefits, even pitching them on television and social media channels, according to a Dec. 30 report from The Hill.
On the other hand, Mr. Kennedy expressed his belief that such medications are a scam.
"The first line of response should be lifestyle. It should be eating well, making sure that you don't get obese," Mr. Kennedy said in a Dec. 12 interview. He also suggested that GLP-1s are being pushed on Americans by international pharmaceutical companies.
"When I’m working in the next administration, I will address our sick food system — and the corrupt government agencies — to help make our country healthy again," Mr Kennedy wrote on the social media platform X. "In the meantime, perhaps we should consider replanting the kitchen garden before sending more money to Denmark."
That places Mr. Kennedy also at odds with a prominent advisor to Mr. Trump, Elon Musk. Mr. Musk has credited Wegovy with helping him lose weight and said the compound should be more widely available.
"Nothing would do more to improve the health, lifespan and quality of life for Americans than making GLP inhibitors super low cost to the public," Mr. Musk wrote on X.
These differences could cause potential clashes within the Trump leadership team, as there will likely be different ideas on whether or not Medicare will cover the medications.
Currently, Medicare is prohibited from covering weight loss drugs for anything other than treating conditions such as diabetes or heart disease, and only 13 states cover GLP-1 drugs for obesity under Medicaid. A new Biden administration proposal would require Medicare and Medicaid to cover the medication for people with obesity.
Authorizing Medicare coverage of anti-obesity medications would likely increase federal spending by about $35 billion from 2026 to 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
It will be up to the Trump administration to either extend or undo Biden administration coverage proposals.