The Brief

Popular weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy would no longer be covered by Medi-Cal under a proposal unveiled by Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday in an effort to reduce cost overruns in the state health insurance program.

The costly drugs prescribed to fight obesity have been driving up the cost of Medi-Cal, the state program that provides health coverage for low-income Californians. Eliminating coverage for these drugs would save the state $85 million in 2025-26, and up to $680 million by 2028-29, according to the governor’s office.

Newsom’s proposal will be taken up by the state Legislature as the governor and top legislators tackle a state budget facing a $12 billion deficit.

As proposed, coverage of the drugs would end on Jan. 1, 2026. Medi-Cal patients trying to lose weight would have to pay for the prescriptions themselves, at a cost of more than $1,000 per month, making it unattainable for low-income people.

Some health professionals say the drugs are highly effective at combating obesity, a chronic disease that drives up health care costs because it can lead to many other disorders such as heart disease and diabetes.

An estimated 18 million adults in California are obese or overweight, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

“This is a bad decision. The people who are already taking this medication, what’s going to happen to them?” said Liz Helms, president of the California Chronic Care Coalition, a group of health consumer advocacy organizations and providers.

Dr. Wayne Ho, a Los Angeles obesity specialist and researcher, said patients will likely regain the weight they’ve lost, and also lose the health benefits they’ve gained, such as lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

“It is the best tool I have had as a primary care physician in practicing preventative medicine,” Ho said of weight management drugs. For patients on Medi-Cal, he said it can be especially difficult to access obesity specialists and nutritious foods, making their weight loss journey even more difficult.

On the other hand, the California Association of Health Plans said Newsom’s proposal “should send a strong signal to the Legislature that they should reconsider mandating that health plans cover these costly drugs for weight loss without the proper clinical safeguards in place.” 

California is not required by federal law to cover the cost of the weight loss drugs in its Medi-Cal program. Instead, the state opted to include them. Under Newsom’s proposed cuts, when Ozempic is prescribed to treat diabetes, it would still be covered by Medi-Cal.

Newsom’s proposal comes as Wegovy and Ozempic prescriptions among Medi-Cal enrollees are soaring along with overall prescription drug spending. In fiscal year 2023-24, drugs cost Medi-Cal close to $15.2 billion, according to state drug cost reports. That’s about a 10% increase from the previous year.

Between 2022 and 2023, Wegovy prescriptions in the Medi-Cal program jumped from 15,000 to 181,000, data from the U.S. Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services show. Ozempic prescriptions for diabetes and weight loss rose from 178,000 in 2022 to 480,000 in 2023.

In 2023, the latest year for which data is available, Medi-Cal spent about $733 million on both drugs. (This amount does not include the refunds that Medi-Cal received from pharmaceutical companies as part of rebate programs.)

“This is a bad decision. The people who are already taking this medication, what’s going to happen to them?"LIZ HELMS, CALIFORNIA CHRONIC CARE COALITION In his budget presentation today, Newsom did not mention the drugs. But he said the state had to “tighten things up” in its massive Medi-Cal program so he proposed several restrictions, including a freeze on Medi-Cal enrollments by people who lack permanent legal immigration status. Medi-Cal covers nearly 15 million Californians.

Earlier this year, the state had to backfill a $6.2 billion shortfall in its Medi-Cal budget to pay providers through the end of June. The Department of Health Care Services, which oversees the Medi-Cal program, cited a number of reasons for going over budget, including the state’s expansion to undocumented immigrants and an increase in prescription drug spending.

Ozempic is primarily used to treat Type 2 diabetes, but some doctors prescribe it for weight loss, too. Wegovy is used only for weight loss. Both are manufactured by Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, and there are no generic versions.

Semaglutide, the active ingredient in both drugs, works by mimicking the GLP-1 hormone, which helps regulate blood sugar and appetite. In an attempt to contain costs, Medi-Cal already limits the quantity of Wegovy that can be dispensed every 28 days to one carton of four pen injectors. Patients inject themselves once a week.

To qualify for Medi-Cal, a single person’s annual income cannot exceed $21,597. For a family of 4, the threshold is $44,367.

Erica Yee contributed to this report. 

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors took a step toward banning ICE from unlawfully operating on county-owned property and to post signage designating those spaces as “ICE Free Zones.”

The board unanimously approved the motion at Tuesday’s board meeting, directing staff to draft the policy.

The draft could include requirements for county employees to report to their supervisor if they see unauthorized immigration activity on county property.

The city of Los Angeles passed a similar order last July, which strengthened protocols that prohibit ICE from operating on city-owned property. The agenda staff report points to an “ICE Free Zone” ordinance passed by the city of Chicago in October.

Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Hilda L. Solis co-authored the motion.

Horvath during Tuesday's board meeting said the county will not allow its property to be used as “a staging ground for violence caused by the Trump administration."

Solis said their action as a board could have a ripple effect on other city councils and local governments.

“Even though it's taken us this long to get here …I think it's really important for our communities to understand what we're saying is you don't have the right to come in and harass people without a federal warrant,” Solis said. “And if you use our property to stage, then you need to show us documentation as to why.

Since June, ICE raids have ramped up across the nation, heavily targeting certain immigrant communities like those in Los Angeles.

The motion directs the draft to include language that prohibits all types of ICE operations on county land, including staging and mobilizing without a warrant.

The motion cites an incident on Oct. 8, when county officials say federal agents raided the Deane Dana Friendship Park and Nature Center in San Pedro, arresting three people and threatening to arrest staff.

The motion also requires that the county post 'Ice Free Zone' signage on all of its properties.

Sergio Perez, executive director of the Center of Human Rights and Constitutional Law, told LAist the policy is enforceable under Fourth Amendment case law.

“You have to make sure that when you post that signage … that means that you routinely, or semi-routinely, assess who's coming in to the property, so that you can control access,” Perez said. “But if ICE shows up with a warrant, with a subpoena, then all bets are off, and they can enter into the property and do what they need to do.”

Perez said the county has moved “incredibly” slow on this issue.

“It's embarrassing that the county is moving six months later, given how we've been facing violent, aggressive, invasive and illegal raids now for so long here in Southern California,” Perez said, adding that local governments have not been fast or creative enough in protecting immigrant and refugee communities.

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, one of the region’s largest immigrant advocacy groups, supports the motion.

"We do not want our county resources being used for federal immigration enforcement activities, which disrupt, uproot, and terrorize our communities,” Jeannette Zanipatin, policy director for CHIRLA, said in a statement. “It is important for all public spaces to be really safe for all residents.”

County staff have 30 days to draft a plan to implement the new policy.

L.A. Rep. Jimmy Gomez said he was “impressed” last month when the lawmaker was able to visit the downtown immigration holding facility known as B-18 without a hassle and without giving advance notice. Prior to that, when the government ramped up its deportation campaign last summer, he had been denied entry because he hadn’t given advance notice.

He and fellow Congressional Democrats sued and won a ruling in December. But the window of unfettered visitation rights didn’t last long.

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security issued a new set of rules, again requiring a week’s notice ahead of Congressional oversight visits.

An emergency hearing is being held Wednesday morning in Washington, D.C., to determine whether the new rules are legal.

Gomez and others say they can’t properly monitor the spending of taxpayer money without being able to do surprise oversight visits.

“The drop-in visits allow us to document what the true conditions are, not when they're getting ready for an inspection,” he said.

Congress members became aware of the government’s new advance-notice rules after several Minnesota representatives tried to visit an ICE facility in Minneapolis last week, a day after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good. They were denied entry.

In an internal memo dated Jan. 8, Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem wrote that the new visitation rules did not violate the court ruling because they came from a different funding stream than the one requiring unfettered access for Congressional oversight.

“I think that they’re just  grasping at straws,” said Gomez, who represents the 34th Congressional district, including downtown and East L.A.

U.S. Congressman Jimmy Gomez walks out of the Roybal Federal Building on Dec. 19, 2025, after inspecting the immigration detention facility inside.

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Jordan Rynning

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LAist

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What Gomez saw on his visit to B-18

Gomez visited B-18, located in the basement of the downtown federal building, Dec. 19. He said there were no beds or blankets, no kitchen facilities and no medical personnel for the 120 people being held there at the time.

“So if something happens, they might not be able to get somebody the treatment they need quickly enough to deal with an emergency,” Gomez said.

As a temporary immigration processing facility, B-18 is normally supposed to hold detainees for no more than 12 hours, per federal rules. But immigration officials waived that time limit at the height of the raids in L.A. last year, allowing people to be detained there for up to 72 hours. That rule is still in effect.

“The problem is that they're still keeping people there way too long for the type of facility it is, endangering their lives,” Gomez said.

At least 20 people died in ICE custody in 2025, the highest number in two decades. That includes two Orange County residents, both of whom were being held at the ICE detention center in Adelanto. No deaths have been reported at B-18.

What’s the big deal about advanced notice?

In her Jan. 8 memo, Sec. Noem said advance notice of congressional visits was necessary to ensure the safety of ICE employees, detainees and Congress members and staff. She also wrote that there was “an increasing trend of replacing legitimate oversight activities with circus-like publicity stunts.”

Media and pro-immigration activists have accompanied Congress members on some of their attempts to visit ICE facilities, including last week in Minneapolis.

How to watchdog your local government

Corruption and scandals are disheartening to read about when it comes to your local government. But one of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is to pay attention.

Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community.

Thinking of attending for the first time? Here are some tips to get you started.

Dig into any local code and you’ll inevitably find something quirky.

We’ve got weirdly specific rules, like Los Angeles County’s law barring rollerblading at Compton’s courthouse and library for example, but there are also old ones on the books that don’t make much sense.

One of those is the city of L.A.’s prohibition of playing sports with a ball in the park (yes, you read that right) and other areas. The City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to start the repeal process, but it’s got us wondering… why is that even a thing?

What the law does

Under L.A. Municipal Code section 56.16 it’s technically illegal to play catch or other sports on some city property, like on the sidewalk with your kids in front of your own house.

The motion comes from councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who says it’s an “uncommonly silly law.” The code reads:

Don’t worry, the repeal won’t make the more serious parts legal. (The ones about bullets and arrows.) Those are covered in LAMC section 55.0 and 55.06.

On paper, violating this strange law comes with a six-month stint in jail or a $1,000 fine, according to the motion, but it’s largely been ignored.

“LAPD records show maybe one or two tickets but it is fair to say it is not regularly enforced,” said Jake Flynn, a spokesperson for Blumenfield.

To repeal the law, the City Council has to pass an ordinance removing it. That’s what the city attorney will draft next.

Why is it there?

We don’t know when 56.16 was added to the city’s municipal code, but it’s traceable to at least 1945.

It’s not unusual for weird laws like this to stick around. Old codes aren’t deleted often, according to Zev Yaroslavsky, a former county supervisor and director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

As for the reason it started? The original intent appears to be lost to time, according to Flynn.

It could’ve been a way to keep the public right-of-way clear. The publication Van Nuys News printed the law in 1948 because they got complaints about children playing games in the street. “Risk to life, limb and property is cited by most persons who make complaints,” said the newspaper.

For the park rule, though, your best guess is as good as mine.

Do you know why it started? Send me an email at chernandez@laist.com.