Starting Jan. 1, New Hampshire’s Medicaid program will stop covering GLP-1 drugs — Wegovy, Zepbound, and others — for weight loss.
“We looked at the way that the state was supporting coverage for GLP-1 medicines and found that this was a fairly significant cost driver,” Gov. Kelly Ayotte told reporters on Wednesday. “And so we looked at the medically necessary reasons for it in terms of those who had pre-existing conditions and made the decision working with Health and Human Services to come up with a modified policy that will still allow medications in those circumstances, but then really make sure it is cost sustainable going forward.”
The Alliance for Women’s Health and Prevention wrote a letter to Ayotte Tuesday urging her to reconsider the decision. The organization noted that approximately 30% of women in New Hampshire — and a disproportionately large number of women of color — experience obesity and that obesity is associated with over 200 health complications, citing the American Medical Association and KFF.
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Ayotte said Wednesday she would not reconsider the decision.
There are roughly 186,000 enrolled in Medicaid in New Hampshire, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. About 54% of them are women.
“When we’re talking about 180,000 enrollees, children and adults, that’s over 90,000 women who are Medicaid beneficiaries who may be living with obesity and could take advantage of receiving the obesity management medications basically to stem those comorbidities that are associated with living with obesity,” Millicent Gorham, CEO of the Alliance for Women’s Health and Prevention, said in a phone interview with the Bulletin Thursday. “We’re talking about diabetes and high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease and cancer. So if we can stem those diseases, then hopefully we can have more healthier people living in New Hampshire.”
Gorham said the change, announced by the Department of Health and Human Services in October, may provide short-term cost savings but will be more expensive in the long run.
“People are going to be living longer with obesity, which is going to lend to any number of the other 200 comorbidities that are aligned with living with obesity,” she said. “And clearly, when you’re talking about things like diabetes and cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure and cancer and fertility issues that are specific to women, they’re going to end up with higher costs specifically related to those diseases and also specifically related to higher hospitalization costs.”
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Gorham pointed to the stigma surrounding obesity and weight loss drugs.
“People really may not understand that people living with obesity is not just about an alternative lifestyle,” she said. “It really is a chronic disease. That’s the first thing that they need to understand: It is a chronic disease, no different than high blood pressure, no different than diabetes, and we need to treat it like that. No other disease has to take on the kind of scrutiny that obesity takes on.”
The Alliance for Women’s Health and Prevention has launched a nationwide effort with a coalition of other health advocacy groups called Everybody Covered to push policymakers to improve coverage of GLP-1 drugs and other obesity treatments.
As of October, 16 states cover GLP-1 drugs, according to KFF. In addition to New Hampshire, California and South Carolina plan to end coverage of the drugs in January. North Carolina ended coverage last month while Michigan plans to limit coverage to people who are “morbidly obese.” The states say they can’t afford the drugs.
The Alliance for Women’s Health and Prevention has been lobbying several states to maintain coverage of the drugs. Gorham said New Hampshire’s response has been “pretty much kinda the same” as other states.
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GLP-1 drugs have been shown to be effective for weight loss, though they come with a number of side effects for some patients, including nausea, vomiting, headaches, diarrhea, and constipation, according to Harvard Medical School and the Cleveland Clinic. While some experts and researchers have concerns about the drugs’ long-term impact and safety, many argue the benefits outweigh the known risks.
Uncertainty surrounds federal child care subsidies for New Hampshire following a Trump administration announcement that has frozen funding nationwide. On Dec. 30, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill announced on X that the Administration of Children and Families will now “require a justification and a receipt or photo evidence” before it […]
A prelicensed therapist who had been practicing in Bow, N.H., was arrested Monday based on an allegation that he sexually assaulted a patient during an in-office visit, police said.
Daniel Thibeault, who faces two counts of felonious sexual assault and one count of aggravated felonious sexual assault, is being held at the Merrimack County jail pending his arraignment, according to a statement from the Bow Police Department.
Daniel Thibeault, a New Hampshire therapist arrested for alleged sexual assault of a patient.Courtesy of Bow Police Department
Thibeault had been a candidate for licensure who was subject to a supervisory agreement since May 2024, according to state records. His arrest comes after the presiding officer of the New Hampshire Board of Mental Health Practice suspended his privileges to practice in the state in late December, citing the alleged assault.
Bow police had notified the state’s Office of Professional Licensure and Certification in early December that Thibeault was accused of sexually assaulting the patient despite her “audible demands to stop,” according to an order signed by an administrative law judge.
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The incident was reported to Bow police in August, prompting an investigation by Detective Sergeant Tyler Coady that led to a warrant being issued for Thibeault‘s arrest, police said.
Efforts to reach Thibeault for comment were unsuccessful Monday. It was not immediately clear whether he has an attorney.
Police said the investigation is considered active and ongoing. Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Coady at 603-223-3956 or tcoady@bownhpd.gov.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.
The GameStop store at Fort Eddy Plaza will close this week as the struggling chain closes at least 80 of its stores across the country, including those in Claremont and West Lebanon.
The Concord store will be open Tuesday and Wednesday but will shut after that, the company said in an announcement.
Once the world’s largest retailer of video games with more than 3,200 stores around the world, including more than 2,000 in the United States, GameStop has seen sales fall for years as online gaming has grown. The chain closed some 400 stores last year.
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GameStop gained attention in 2021 for reasons not associated with its core business: It was targeted by short sellers and become one of several high-profile “meme stocks” whose price skyrocketed due to attention from a small number of social media influencers, sometimes through pictorial memes pushing for a “short squeeze” to generate large profits at the expense of short sellers and hedge funds.
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David Brooks can be reached at dbrooks@cmonitor.com. Sign up for his Granite Geek weekly email newsletter at granitegeek.org.
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