Once upon a time, there was a listener who just couldn't get enough of the indicator from Planet Money.

Who was it? Rumpelstiltskin?

This listener tuned in all the time but thought, what if there was more?

That Rumpelstil's skin would be in luck because the indicator has a brand new newsletter.

That's right. We talk about what we think matters in the news that week. We answer your

listener questions and talk about all the crazy gags we get up to. It comes out Friday mornings. Sign up

now at NPR.org slash indicator newsletter.

NPR.

No. NPR. This is the indicator from Planet Money.

I'm Waylon Wong here today with my good chum Julie Wernow. She's a a reporter for the health policy podcast tradeoffs, and we used to work together at the Chicago Tribune.

We sure did wail in back in the age of flip phones.

Julie, you've been reporting recently on all these weight loss medications, Ozempic, Wagovi, Zepbound.

Right. The number to remember here, one in eight. That's how many adults are on these drugs in the U.S. alone.

Nick Miller is the perfect example. By the time Nick was in his 40s, he weighed more than 400 pounds.

He was constantly thinking about food. Should I eat? Do I deserve to eat? Something he calls

food noise. That first dose of Ozambic on a Tuesday in April, and within three hours,

that noise was gone. And all of a sudden, my brain had room. Like, there was silence.

Nick was lucky to afford the drug.

His employee health benefits covered the medication.

Like the majority of working age people, he gets his health care coverage through his employer.

But here's the thing.

The vast majority of employer health plans don't cover GLP1s for weight loss. Only 20% do.

...