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Trump Administration Weight Loss Drug Pilot: Medicare & Medicaid Coverage for Ozempic, Wegovy in 2026-2027 - GLP-1 Costs, State Participation & Obesity Treatment Policy Key Takeaways Medicare and Medicaid will launch voluntary pilot coverage for GLP-1 weight loss drugs ( Ozempic ,  Wegovy ,  Zepbound ,  Mounjaro ) starting 2026-2027 . The 5-year experiment requires participating plans to include structured diet/exercise coaching alongside medication . Current rules exclude weight loss drug coverage under Medicare, with limited Medicaid exceptions (13 states) . Annual costs per patient range $5,000-$7,000, projected Medicare spending could hit $35B by 2034 . Internal Trump administration conflict exists: CMS’s  Mehmet Oz  supports coverage, while HHS Secretary  Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  criticizes costs . The Policy Shift Hits Like a Diner Coffee at 3 AM Medicare, Medicaid plans to experiment with covering weight loss drugs The Trump administration...

  Trump Fires BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer After 73K Jobs Report, 258K Downward Revisions & Market Slump Key Takeaways President Trump fired  BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer hours after July’s weak jobs report showed only 73,000 jobs added and massive downward revisions for May/June . Accusations without evidence : Trump claimed McEntarfer manipulated data to help Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, despite her Senate confirmation (86-8) and bipartisan respect . Markets recoiled : Stocks plunged (Dow -600 pts, Nasdaq -2%), Treasury yields fell, and Fed rate cut odds surged to 80% for September . Expert backlash : Economists called the firing “deeply worrisome,” stressing BLS data’s independence as the “gold standard” for global labor metrics . Context : Trump previously praised BLS reports when favorable and proposed an 8% staff cut at the agency earlier in 2025 . The Phone Rang at Dawn The phone rang at dawn. The kind of call that starts with silence and ends with ...

US Labor Market Cracks Widen: Job Growth Stalls at 73,000, Unemployment Rises to 4.2% | Massive 258K Downward Revisions | Fed Rate Cut Probability Surges Key Takeaways Stalled job growth : July added just 73K jobs with massive downward revisions erasing 258K prior jobs . Unemployment rise : Rate climbed to 4.2% amid shrinking labor force participation . Fed pressure : Weak data spiked September rate cut odds to 81% . Sector collapse : Healthcare dominated hiring while manufacturing, services bled jobs . Policy whiplash : Trump’s tariffs and immigration raids choked labor supply and business planning . The Brutal Numbers The Labor Department’s report hit like a sucker punch. July added 73,000 jobs, below the 110,000 forecast. But the real damage hid in the revisions. May’s gains got slashed from 144,000 to 19,000. June? 147,000 down to 14,000. That’s 258,000 jobs vanished overnight . Three-month job averages plummeted to 35,000 monthly, weakest since 2010 outside pandemic freefall . Une...