# Why are fewer Black Americans getting GLP-1s?

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/why-are-fewer-black-americans-getting-glp-1s/
- Published: 2026-11-11T14:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-11T14:27:07+00:00
- Original publisher: Vox (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.vox.com/videos/510358/why-are-fewer-black-americans-getting-glp-1s
- Topics: Americas, Celebrity, Entertainment, Health, Medicine, Politics, World

## Key points

- Black adults have higher diabetes rates than white adults.
- Black patients are about 20 per cent less likely to get newer drugs.
- Closing the gap requires addressing deeper inequities.

## Summary

GLP-1 medicines such as Ozempic and Wegovy were developed to treat Type 2 diabetes, but have become widely known as weight-loss drugs. Despite Black Americans having higher rates of diabetes, research finds they are less likely than white patients to receive newer diabetes medicines, reflecting a long history of unequal treatment and access to care.

The article says diabetes affects nearly 40 million Americans; about 12 per cent of Black adults have it, compared with roughly 7 per cent of white adults. A review of 26 studies found Black patients were around 20 per cent less likely to be prescribed newer diabetes drugs. It traces this disparity from past medical beliefs that Black people could not get diabetes to later tendencies to blame individuals’ lifestyles while overlooking wider social and healthcare inequities.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.