Britain is considering funding slimming medications to help unemployed people with obesity rejoin the labor market. The measure, proposed by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, envisions using Mounjaro injections prescribed for diabetes for about 250,000 people over the next three years. The goal is to save the more than €11 billion spent annually on obesity related illnesses within the NHS and to reduce the large number of working age people who are inactive in the United Kingdom, which tops nine million.
‘Obesity related illnesses cause people to miss an average of four additional sick days per year, and many are forced to leave work,’ Streeting said in an article in the Daily Telegraph. ‘The long term benefits of these drugs could be monumental in our fight against obesity. For many people these weight loss injections will change their lives, help them return to work, and ease the NHS demands,’ he added. According to the latest NHS Health Survey England, 29% of English adults are obese, while 64% are overweight.
Multi-million-pound investment
Streeting’s plan aligns with the announcement by the American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, which pledged an investment of £279 million in new ways to deliver health and care to people with obesity, including a study with 3,000 participants to evaluate whether administering these drugs reduces absenteeism and eases the pressure on stretched health services. The study will take place at Health Innovation Manchester and will run for five years using the weight loss injections Mounjaro.
This type of medication is used to suppress appetite and promote weight loss
The use of these medications, including Ozempic and Zepbound, is already taking place in some parts of the UK’s public health system to treat obesity or diabetes, always under medical supervision. The drug, which mimics the GLP-1 hormone, suppresses appetite and helps patients feel full, but experts warn it is not a magic fix and must be paired with healthy habits and physical activity. Streeting himself stressed that those affected should take healthy living more seriously, and that the NHS cannot pay the bill indefinitely.
Economic growth
Until the program is confirmed, the measure has drawn criticism for treating patients as a means to save money for public coffers, overlooking health and prevention. Since taking office last July, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has focused on economic growth and budget balance, aiming to achieve this by cutting public spending and bringing millions of workers back into the labor market.
‘These medicines can be very important for the economy and for health,’ Starmer told the BBC. ‘They will help people lose weight and allow many to return to work. They are also important for the NHS because more funds are needed for health care, but there is also a need to rethink how things are done.’
Critics say the plan treats patients as a budget saving measure
Questions remain about whether drug companies can meet the high demand, which has already caused shortages of these medicines in the UK, and whether health services have the tools to supervise a program meant for hundreds of thousands of Britons.