David Schweikert gets political donation by plugging weight-loss drugs to help shrink debt

Rep. David Schweikert has supported reeling in the national debt by helping Americans shrink their waistlines, and it's garnered him attention from the drug companies that could benefit from that plan.

His critics also have picked up on the topic and used it as a chance to accuse him of being "fatphobic" for endorsing drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, so-called "GPL-1 agonists" that help balance blood sugar and curb appetites.

Schweikert, R-Ariz., is vice chair of the influential Joint Economic Committee in Congress, and in July the committee discussed the impact of diabetes and obesity with experts, including the Navajo Nation president.

That hearing also addressed the possibility that GPL-1 agonists could help address the obesity crisis and prevent additional health costs for conditions such as heart disease and stroke that are more likely when people are overweight.

Medicare doesn't cover weight loss drugs, and Medicaid covers them in some states, but not Arizona.

In that hearing, Schweikert cited the rising incidence of obesity, particularly among children.

“Maybe there is a moment here where it is not Republican or Democrat, or right or left, it’s actually focusing on what is going on in our society and our moral obligation to find a way to end this misery, bring back productivity and … it’s actually really good economics,” he said at the hearing.

Schweikert supports reigning in obesity in the interest of protecting the federal budget because of the drag health care costs have on the economy and said the issue has been ignored for too long out of politeness.

He also spoke about it during a Sept. 26 presentation to a local Young Republicans group.Shortly after that discussion, where Schweikert mentioned GPL-1 agonist drugs, Novo Nordisk, maker of such drugs, contributed $5,000 to Schweikert’s re-election campaign. The Sept. 29 donation came through its political action committee.

Novo Nordisk makes both Wegovy, which is used to treat obesity, and Ozempic, which is used to treat diabetes, but also sometimes is prescribed off-label to treat obesity.

The donation is a fraction of the $156,000 the PAC has distributed this year, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Schweikert has received far more from the real estate and financial industries than pharmaceuticals, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that compiles data on political contributions.

But his political opponents are using his GPL-1 agonist comments and contribution against him.

In a Nov. 27 newsletter to constituents, Schweikert provided a link to a news article that originally appeared in the Financial Times, in which Novo Nordisk president and CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said the company was negotiating to increase the use of its drugs.

Schweikert’s campaign spokesperson Chris Baker said Schweikert is not advocating for the use of pharmaceuticals in place of more basic prevention and treatment of health issues.

"Congressman Schweikert is a strong supporter of policies and technologies that encourage exercise and a healthy lifestyle,” Baker said in a statement to The Arizona Republic. “His support includes co-sponsoring, along with over 50 other members of Congress, bipartisan legislation to expand Medicare coverage to include weight management medications."

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Democratic candidate calls out donation, email

Democrat Andrei Cherny, one of several candidates trying for the chance to challenge Schweikert in next year's election, wrote the House Office of Congressional Ethics to complain about Schweikert's email referencing Novo Nordisk and the company's donation.

Cherny asked the House Ethics Committee to "launch an investigation of whether Rep. Schweikert used his recent taxpayer-funded constituent communication advertising the products and services of a recent very large contributor to his reelection campaign."

He noted the Sept. 29 donation.

"Less than two months later, he turned over a significant chunk of his constituent newsletter to anadvertisement for Novo Nordisk’s ... services for its weight loss drugs," Cherny wrote. "This hasnothing to do with his duties as a Congressman or any legislation but is simply an advertising forthe corporation’s offerings."

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Schweikert makes case on NewsNation

Schweikert also posted an interview to YouTube on Nov. 27 that he conducted on NewsNation where curbing debt through reducing obesity was discussed.

“Congressman Schweikert has been making this case, that if you drive down the one in terms of obesity, you may be driving down the other one, and people are finally starting to pay some attention,” reporter Joe Khalil said.

Schweikert said in that interview that health care costs should be addressed.

“We have to tell the truth. It turns out the No. 1 driver of U.S. debt being related to health care … was obesity,” Schweikert said. The segment spliced in comments he’s made on the House floor regarding health care costs and debt.

One poster Schweikert held up on the House floor recently listed estimates for the economic cost of obesity as $5.6 trillion from 2024 through 2033. That figure was explained as “potential revenue lost from obesity-related labor shortages.”

“There’s starting to be an understanding that this may be a society and an economic revolution that is coming,” Schweikert said in the segment, which highlighted both Wegovy and Ozempic.

Another clip showed the increasing rate of obesity among young adults in the United States.

“Should we not talk about it?” Schweikert said while holding that chart.

The reporter asked Schweikert why the topic of preventing obesity isn’t more broadly discussed.

“Because you get beaten up," Schweikert said. "But let’s be honest. To hell with the theater of people’s feelings. In some ways it’s, we love, we care and we are going to try to make people’s lives better.”

Schweikert is not wrong that politicians get beat up over the issue. The Arizona Democratic Party issued an October statement regarding his remarks to the Young Republicans club.

“Schweikert’s fatphobic comments are another one of his dog whistles to cover up his real agenda: cut Social Security and Medicare,” Arizona Democratic Party chair Yolanda Bejarano said in that statement. “If Schweikert cared for the health of Arizonans, he would have voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, which is reducing the deficit and lowering the cost of life-saving drugs for Arizonans.”

Experts debate merits of idea

Swapna Reddy is an assistant professor in the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University. Her work focuses on policy to improve health, increase health care access and equity, and reduce disparities among minority and underserved populations.

She is familiar with the concept espoused by Schweikert, and while she said she sometimes rolls her eyes at the hype around GPL-1 agonist drugs, there’s no question obesity is a serious problem.

“What is really important beyond the human cost, it actually costs the health care system a ton of money,” she said. “We are at a point where we are really desperate for solutions.”

She said the major question about whether increasing access to the drugs could reduce health care costs depends on what those drugs cost.

She said experts in health care are wary of anything serving as a silver bullet to fix the problem, noting that obesity is caused by a host of factors from people not getting enough fruits and vegetables and not exercising enough, to the cost of gym memberships and proximity of neighborhoods to grocery stores.

“The results are quite good," she said of the GPL-1 agonist drugs' effectiveness. "But saying this is what the whole U.S. needs to affect our obesity problem is ignoring some of the larger issues.”

Health care experts who spoke at the JEC hearing last summer didn’t necessarily agree that pharmaceuticals are the best way to reign in health care costs, but they did agree that the idea is worth considering and that diabetes and obesity are drags on the economy.

Benedic Ippolito, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said during that hearing thatdiabetes is becoming more prevalent and the estimated direct health care cost is $300 billion a year. He said lost productivity and related issues contribute another $100 billion to the economic impact.

He noted that people with diabetes pay some of that cost “but they don’t pay all of it,” with people paying health insurance premiums and the federal government picking up part of the tab, including through the Medicare program.

Ippolito said it was hard to predict how GPL-1 agonist drugs that could address obesity could affect the economic impact of the problem.

While such drugs could lead to increased productivity, for example, the drugs themselves have a cost.

“How those things balance out is not obvious,” he said.

And drugs should not supplant other measures that are shown to reduce health care costs from diabetes, such as screening for kidney disease, self-monitoring blood-sugar levels and other lifestyle changes.

“We want to make sure not to preference pharmaceuticals to the exclusion of those other interventions,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Schweikert supports weight loss drugs and gets a donation from one