Dr. Nicholas Pennings, chair of Family Medicine at Campbell’s med school, was cited in a story Jan. 28 by Tribune News Service. The story was published on numerous media outlets, including the Los Angeles Daily News.
Pennings, who is also executive director of Clinical Education for the Obesity Medicine Association, is passionate about his research into the chronic and dangerous disease.
He is cited in the Tribune story “States consider high costs, possible savings of covering weight-loss drugs for their workers,” written by Shalina Chatlani of Stateline.org. The focus of the piece is on how the rising popularity of weight-loss drugs — known as GLP-1s — is fast becoming a state budgetary concern.
“In deciding whether to cover the medications, policymakers must choose between the long-term benefits of reducing obesity among public employees and their families — which could cut spending on the treatment of chronic diseases — and the short-term costs,” Chatlani writes.
Pennings, according to the story, said North Carolina “saw many patients on the employee state health plan gain back the weight they had lost after their GLP-1 coverage ended. That’s because obesity is a chronic condition that can be caused by genetics, emotional dependency and lack of healthy food access.”
In North Carolina, where 70% of residents are overweight or obese, foods such as barbecue pork and peach cobbler are part of the local culture, Chatlani writes.
In the story, Pennings said he has patients, including the children of state employees, who were doing well on GLP-1s but are now headed toward developing diabetes.
Separately, 13 state Medicaid programs, including North Carolina’s, have opted to cover GLP-1s for obesity, Chatlani writes.
“But,” the story says, “Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal government and the states, and drugmakers are required to offer significant rebates to those programs in exchange for coverage of their products. The insurance plans that cover public employees largely have to bear the costs themselves.”
On Dec. 6 in Asheville, Pennings was honored with the 2024 Distinguished Family Physician Award, the most prestigious honor presented by the N.C. Academy of Family Physicians. He serves in myriad roles at the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine and is among its most respected leaders, instructors and mentors.