Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists marketed as Ozempic, Wegovy and more have helped many patients across the country lose weight, better manage and prevent type 2 diabetes and other conditions that dramatically affect patients’ life expectancy and quality of life.
But American doctors know all too well how difficult it is for many of their patients to access these life-changing and often lifesaving medications due to payer restrictions.
“Obesity is a chronic disease that requires sustained, evidence-based treatment and comprehensive support,” said AMA President Bobby Mukkamala, MD. “As new therapies emerge, patients should not face insurmountable financial barriers to clinically appropriate care. These policies advance practical approaches to improving affordability, expanding access, and ensuring patients can receive the full range of services needed to achieve better long-term health outcomes.”
Recognizing obesity as a complex chronic disease that often requires long-term management, the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates took a range of actions to give more patients affordable access to anti-obesity medications.
At the 2026 AMA Annual Meeting in Chicago today, the House of Delegates (HOD) adopted new policy to encourage:
- The use of GLP-1 receptor agonists in accordance with evidence based clinical indications, within comprehensive care plans that include behavioral and lifestyle interventions.
- Physicians and other prescribers of GLP-1 receptor agonists and other anti-obesity medications to evaluate individuals for body-image concerns, weight history and eating disorders prior to prescribing such medications.
The HOD also directed the AMA to advocate:
- Legislation or regulation so that public and private health insurers provide GLP-1 receptor agonists for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity at affordable formulary pricing, thereby reducing out-of-pocket costs for patients.
- Pricing transparency and cost-containment strategies among manufacturers, payers, and policymakers to improve affordability and access to evidence-based obesity and diabetes treatments
In a separate action, delegates directed the AMA to:
- Support, publicize and advocate for the concomitant use of evidence-based, structured lifestyle and behavioral intervention programs, delivered with ongoing clinician and care-team support, in conjunction with the prescribed use of GLP-1 receptor agonists for obesity and other related, preventable disease states and illnesses.
- Recognize and address potential health disparities associated with recommendations for structured lifestyle intervention programs accompanying GLP-1 receptor agonist therapy, and advocate for equitable access to evidence-based, clinician-supported lifestyle interventions across diverse care settings, including community-based, digital, hybrid, and safety-net models of care.
- Advocate for coverage, reimbursement, and sustainable payment models that support the delivery of clinician-led, therapeutic, and structured lifestyle intervention programs as a component of GLP-1 receptor agonist and other anti-obesity medication therapy, particularly for underserved, rural, and historically marginalized populations, to mitigate disparities in access and outcomes, provided that coverage of these medications shall not be conditioned upon participation in such lifestyle intervention programs.
The HOD also adopted new policy to support:
- Potential innovative payment arrangements to help individuals afford treatment for emerging anti-obesity medications.
- Pilot programs that allow for demonstration projects that cover emerging medications which aid in obesity management, such as GLP-1 and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide-based medications.
- The long-term coverage of anti-obesity medications to maintain weight loss through consistent drug pricing, formulary tiering, benefit structures, and coverage criteria in private insurance and employer-sponsored insurance to offset cost variability.
- Equitable access to comprehensive disease management, nutritional therapies, health promotion, and prevention interventions aimed at helping the general population, those who are at elevated risk for obesity, and patients being treated for obesity.
Separately, delegates directed the AMA to “actively oppose preferential pricing strategies by pharmaceutical manufacturers that offer discounted medications exclusively to telehealth or online providers, as such practices undermine the established physician-patient relationship and the continuity of care.”
The HOD also adopted new policy to:
- Promote policies and recommend to all public and private health insurance plans to provide coverage parity for evidence-based obesity treatments, including chronic weight management medications, bariatric and metabolic surgery, intensive behavioral therapy, dietary counseling and medical nutrition therapy, equivalent to coverage provided for other chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease without exclusionary carveouts, annual or lifetime caps specific to obesity, or “fail first”/step therapy requirements not applied to comparable chronic conditions.
- Oppose as discriminatory any insurance practice that terminates, reduces, or restricts coverage to evidence-based obesity treatment or insurer-defined weight loss targets, body mass index (BMI) thresholds, or other arbitrary metrics that are not aligned with individualized, evidence-based clinical decision-making as well as advocate for federal and state regulation prohibiting such practices.
- Oppose, in the absence of supporting clinical evidence, any mandatory supervised weight loss period as a prerequisite for bariatric or metabolic surgery coverage, and advocate for the elimination of such requirements at the federal and state level.
- Affirm that treatment decisions for patients with obesity—including the sequencing and selection of pharmacologic therapy, behavioral intervention, and bariatric or metabolic surgery—should be made through individualized, evidence-based, shared decision-making between the physician and patient, free from payer-imposed treatment hierarchies or mandatory sequencing requirements.
In addition, the delegates directed the AMA to advocate “federal legislation to permanently repeal the Medicare Part D statutory exclusion of anti-obesity medications (Section 1927(d)(2) of the 49 Social Security Act), and further advocate that all state Medicaid programs be required to include Food and Drug Administration-approved anti-obesity medications on their formularies as a condition of federal matching funds.”
The costs for the patient and broader healthcare system associated with obesity, including the treatment of weight-related conditions and potential complications, can be substantial. The AMA believes it is crucial to recognize the urgency of addressing this disease comprehensively and proactively through a range of suitable treatments. The policies adopted today are an important step toward reducing barriers to the best course of treatment as determined by shared decision-making between patients and physicians.
Read about the other highlights from the 2026 AMA Annual Meeting.
