Opinion What if Ozempic is the new orthodontia

By
Contributing columnist|
January 18, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST
(Ellen Weinstein for The Washington Post)
6 min

I always thought I’d be thin if I were rich.

I’d have personal trainers and private chefs, surreptitious plastic surgery and a good PR team to deny it.

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Now, it seems, with the advent of semaglutides, a.k.a. the injectable weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, I wouldn’t even have to be rich rich. For a not inconceivable amount of money, I could lose the extra pounds that have bothered me ever since I learned they should bother me. I could buy a 15 percent drop in my body weight.

Or rather, “rent.” For the low, low price of … about $1,200 a month for the rest of my life.

True, that’s still a lot, for most of us. But it won’t be long before competition and insurance coverage bring down the cost — not just for people with Type 2 diabetes for whom semaglutides were developed but also for healthy people who simply want to be thinner. Eventually, we’ll be talking less extra apartment and more cable bill. Great, right?

I’m not so sure.