According to the Washington Post, 13 states currently cover the drugs for Medicaid patients, while Medicare prohibits coverage of the drugs used solely for weight loss, but allows for treating indications they are approved for like sleep apnea and heart disease.

A move to cover expensive weight-loss drugs for Americans on Medicare and Medicaid may be in the works, but any such program could run into problems with voluntary participation and concerns about expense.

Drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists were initially developed to treat Type 2 diabetes but have become a cultural phenomenon.