The Pros and Cons of Making Wegovy More Accessible

Greetings, Meteor readers,

It recently came to my attention that I have an “odd” choice of stuffing for my turkey. I am curious to know what y’all are putting in yours, and I need a solid explanation as to why the answer is not ground beef, which is what is in my bird. This is a question of national importance.

In today’s newsletter, we’re talking about a potentially game-changing proposal for weight-loss drugs and the banner year women’s soccer just had. Plus, a little weekend reading to get you through the holiday.

Where’s the beef (if not in the turkey),

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

Wegovy for all?: Today, the Biden administration proposed that Medicaid and Medicare cover weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound. If the proposal becomes official, seven million more Medicaid and Medicare patients deemed “obese” would have access to these drugs. (Both plans already cover drugs like Ozempic for treating type 2 diabetes, but prohibit coverage for medications designed specifically for weight loss.) The proposal’s fate is far from certain; Trump’s pick for health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is against use of the drugs. But the proposal itself shows just how much these weight-loss drugs have penetrated American life.

At this point, 13% of all American adults have used these medications—the majority of them women. If the drugs become more affordable thanks to this coverage, those numbers will almost certainly grow. That accessibility, of course, is a good thing: Everyone deserves equal access to medicine, period. But the widespread use of these particular medicines raises other issues, too—like the threat of “Ozempic coercion,” as fat activist Virgie Tovar put it to Samhita Mukhopadhyay in The Meteor last May, in which weight-loss drugs become yet another tool women feel pressured to take in order to change their bodies.

And of course, if this or any other administration wanted to do one simple thing to improve the health of citizens, hey, there’s always universal healthcare! Even before Trump The Sequel was on the horizon, it was clear that that was not gonna happen anytime soon, but let’s not lose sight of it as a long-term goal—way more effective, Tovar notes in that interview, than all the weight-loss drugs in the world.

Soccer’s huge year: The 2024 NWSL season has officially come to a close, with the Orlando Pride bringing home the big trophy for the first time in club history. But aside from the win and this beautiful moment between Pride star Marta and her mother, the championship caps off a breakthrough year for women’s soccer. The NWSL championship was held in the newly opened CPKC Stadium, the world’s first stadium built specifically for women’s soccer. And 2024 is also the year of Michelle Kang’s record-shattering investment in the sport—the three-team owner gifted U.S. Soccer $30 million over the next five years. According to U.S. Soccer, that’s the largest philanthropic investment made to women’s and girls’ soccer programs in the organization’s 111-year history. So not only is everyone watching women’s soccer, but everyone’s investing in it. Took them long enough.

MAY WE ALL FIND SOMEONE WHO LOOKS AT US THE WAY MARTA IS LOOKING AT THIS TROPHY. (VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

AND:

• “On average, 140 women and girls were killed every day in 2023 by someone in their own family.” That is a pulse-stopping sentence from a new UN Women report breaking down the stats for femicides around the world in 2023. According to the report, almost 85,000 women were killed intentionally because of their gender, and approximately 51,000 of those murders were committed by a family member or intimate partner.

• Puerto Rican election results show that 57% of islanders voted in favor of statehood. So, now what? The results are non-binding, which means that Puerto Rico will not be getting its own star on the U.S. flag anytime soon. However, the vote will have more weight once the Puerto Rico Status Act passes (which it’s expected to do). Under the PRSA, Congress will be obligated to authorize a legally binding vote on status and then fulfill the wishes of the people. And while that is still a few years away, this most recent vote feels to many like the final nail in the coffin in a 100+ year fight for independence.

• In an effort to corral votes before the election, both Republicans and Democrats made big promises to expand the child tax credit, which is set to expire next year. Vice president-elect J.D. Vance memorably touted a plan to expand it to $5,000 per child for all families. But now it’s time for the Republican-controlled Congress to put their money where their mouth is and, according to experts who spoke with The 19th, that expansion doesn’t appear to be on the horizon.

• Over the last few years, through court cases and the work of the Land Back Movement, Native Americans have gotten back millions of acres of land originally promised to them in treaties broken by the U.S. government. However, advocates are now concerned that under the Trump administration, all of those gains could be undone thanks to—you’ll never guess—Project 2025.

• The Drake versus Kendrick Lamar beef has moved into a new chapter. On Monday, Drake filed a legal petition against Spotify and Universal Music Group claiming they conspired to “artificially inflate the spread of ‘Not Like Us’ and deceive consumers into believing the song was more popular than it was in reality.” Ya know. It’s so interesting that in response to a song that accuses him of pedophilia, Drake is concerned with suing under RICO statutes and not for, say, libel. I’m sure we’ll find out what Kendrick thinks about all this at the Super Bowl.

WEEKEND READING (because the weekend starts tomorrow) 📚

On “the happiest ending possible”: A horrifying mix-up during IVF created lasting trauma—but also an unshakeable bond between two families. (New York Times magazine)

On exhaustion: After this year’s election, a large number of Black women organizers are thinking of taking a step back from their work. That could have unexpected consequences for the American political system. (NPR)

On courage: When 12-year-old Taylor Cadle told police she was being sexually abused, they didn’t believe her. So she took the investigation into her own hands. (Mother Jones)

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