JAMA study finds Medicaid obesity GLP-1 coverage did not raise total utilization

The wire

1. 01The cross-sectional synthetic difference-in-differences analysis covered nine treated states and 36 control states, finding a 6.48 per 1000 increase in obesity-labeled scripts (95% CI, 4.00-8.96) but no significant change in total or diabetes-labeled use.
2. 02The finding speaks to substitution between identical active ingredients labeled for diabetes versus obesity, a core cost argument in state Medicaid coverage decisions.
3. 03This is state-level aggregate utilization data through 2024, not patient-level, and cannot confirm individual switching; states with prior authorization stricter than the FDA label showed a relative decline in diabetes-labeled scripts.

From the source

GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Coverage for Obesity in Medicaid and Total GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Utilization

JAMA health forum · 2026 Sep 4 · Khanna R, Wang MC, Venkataramani AS et al.