MONDAY, July 20, 2026 (NewsDay News) — From 2017 to 2022, the use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) more than doubled, according to a study published online July 17. Journal of the American Heart Association.
Michael M. Hammond, MD, MPH, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues studied how patterns of use and associated payments differed in GLP-1 RAs and by diabetes status using data from a sample of the US Health Expenditure Panel Survey of Adults. Trends from 2017 to 2022 were examined for utilization and payment immediately before and after the expansion of indications for GLP-1 RA.
In total, 1,878 participants representing 20,343,000 adults reported GLP-1 RA use between 2017 and 2022; 90% of them reported a history of diabetes. GLP-1 RA use increased by 230 and 643 percent among diabetic and nondiabetic participants, respectively. From 2018 to 2022, the proportion of semaglutide users increased from 10 to 54 percent and from 8 to 65 percent among those with and without diabetes, respectively. Between 2017 and 2022, the average annual out-of-pocket payments for participants with and without diabetes decreased (from $414 to $252 and from $212 to $157, respectively). Average annual premiums increased from $4,936 to $6,722 and from $2,651 to $6,811 for people with and without diabetes between 2017 and 2022, respectively.
“The bill ultimately targets premium payers, taxpayers and, in some cases, patients who may lose coverage or face new barriers,” senior author Dr. Xiaoning Huang, Ph.D., also of the Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a statement.
