Kent School’s J.J. Carter leads a fast break down court against the South Kent School, Nov. 20.
Lans Christensen
The paint was congested in the closely contested game, which went into double overtime before South Kent secured an 82-74 victory.Lans Christensen
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Swim season kicks off
Jan 15, 2025
Riley Klein
Northwestern Regional High School hosted Housatonic Valley Regional High School for a swim meet Friday, Jan. 10. In team totals, Northwestern won 92-38. Northwestern is the reigning Berkshire League swim champion. HVRHS’s next home meet is scheduled for Jan. 22 against Shepaug Valley High School at 7 p.m. in The Hotchkiss School’s Mars Athletic Center.
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Future of weight loss
Jan 15, 2025
More than 40% of Americans are now classified as obese while 75% of adults are either overweight or obese. A new group of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists have come on the scene to help in the battle to lose weight. Are they as good as we think?
You may have heard about them or some of their brand names like Zepbound, Wegovy, and Ozempic. The use of these drugs has exploded in popularity to the point where companies like Lilly and Novo Nordisk have had problems keeping up with demand. There is nothing magical about the science behind these drugs. GLP-1 mimics a protein naturally produced by our small intestines. The receptors for these medicines are located across the body. They help us lose weight because receptors in the gastrointestinal tract slow down and send signals to the brain that give us a sense of feeling full.
There are some side effects but nothing too serious for most patients. We are still learning how these medications impact the body. They are currently approved for treating diabetes, obesity, and those with a history of cardiovascular disease in people who are overweight. There are a few drawbacks to these drugs at present.
Typically, GLP-1 agonists are administered as injections in the abdomen, upper arms, outer thighs, or upper buttocks via a syringe and needle or a pre-filled dosing pen. The shots are generally taken once a day or once a week.
For many, this is a big turn-off. Fortunately, you will be able to take tablets soon. The typical weight loss is from 5-15% of body weight over at least 12 months. But GLP-1 is no quick fix. Like exercise, you must stick with it. If you stop taking it, most people regain the weight they lost. And you can’t expect to magically lose weight while you continue to eat all that junk food you get.
The second drawback is the expense. These medications’ list price is around $1,000 a month to $1,400 a month. Without insurance, we are talking $12,000 plus per year for these drugs. Many insurance plans cover some portion of GLP-1 costs, but the extent of coverage can vary significantly. You probably are wondering whether Medicare covers GLP-1 medications. They do for certain medically accepted indications such as heart attack or cardiovascular disease but not for weight management. To qualify, you must have a BMI of 30 or higher, or 27 or higher with comorbidities like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or type 2 diabetes. They are currently covered through Part D plans.
An entirely new team of individuals, including a retired congressman, a surgeon, and a talk-show host could play pivotal roles in how the government goes about safeguarding America’s health.
Coinsurance amounts are pegged to the list price of drugs. As such, Medicare beneficiaries who qualify could still face monthly costs of $250 to $430 before they reach the annual out-of-pocket drug spending established by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA cap for out-of-pocket expenses were around $3,300 in 2024 and will be $2,000 in 2025. Most retirees living on modest incomes would still find the cost of GLP-1 prohibitive.
In November 2024, the Biden Administration proposed that Medicare and Medicaid cover obesity medications. In doing so, they sidestepped a twenty-year-old piece of legislation that prevented Medicare from covering drugs for ‘weight loss.’ The new proposal specifies that the drugs would be covered to treat the disease of obesity and prevent related conditions. Those conditions are serious and include diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, fatty liver disease, and arthritis.
The classification would also mean that every state Medicaid program would be required to cover the drugs starting in 2026. Between the two programs, an additional 7.4 million Americans would gain coverage. The price tag would be high, at least $36 billion over a decade. However, there are more obesity drugs in the pipeline and prices should fall as competition heats up. Starting in 2025, Medicare will also be able to negotiate a lower price for Wegovy as well as many other popular drugs.
As for the future, the costs and usage of GLP-1 medications could change significantly under the second Trump Administration. An entirely new team of individuals, including a retired congressman, a surgeon, and a talk-show host could play pivotal roles in how the government goes about safeguarding America’s health.
Under Robert F. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, politician, and anti-vaccine organizer, we can expect radically different views and actions in health care, medicine, food safety, and science research. Early indications are that Kennedy, who would run the Department of Health and Human Services, is not a big fan of Ozempic. He does not believe that using popular GLP-1 drugs is ever going to make America healthy again. His remedy would be to provide good food to Americans. He believes that providing three nutritious meals a day to all Americans would solve obesity and diabetes overnight. The problem is that for many Americans the admonition to change your diet, eat less, and exercise more has failed to dent the problem. Why not give the country an avenue that shows a much better chance of success over the long term?
Bill Schmick is a founding partner of Onota Partners, Inc., in the Berkshires.
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‘The people (of Greenland) will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation.’
—Donald J. Trump, January 2024
On Jan. 7, in a non-threatening commentary, Trump initially spoke of buying Greenland without specifics on his tact for acquiring two other countries: Panama and Canada. This past week at a press conference, Trump shifted to harsh, warning commentary — he would, if necessary, use military and/or economy force on the three countries he wishes to acquire. Panama has no military, just a police force. Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a member of NATO. Trump indicated that our neighbor Canada would only be in line for economic corrections.
Initially, Trump had been clear that he wanted to buy Greenland. This monster of an idea wasn’t new with Trump. For a hundred and sixty years plus some American of stature has pressed for this acquisition. In 1867, it was considered by Secretary of State William Seward to annex Greenland with Iceland while he negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia. In 1910, an exchange of Greenland for U.S. territories was proposed. In 1946, at the close of WWII, an offer was made to Denmark by Secretary of State James Brynes, the $100 million in gold bullion offer was rejected. In 1917, the U.S. did successfully purchase from Denmark the Danish West Indies — renamed the Virgin Islands — as strategic security for the newly constructed Panama Canal.
Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat), is the world’s largest island, three times the size of Texas, the northernmost undisputed point of land in the Arctic. Greenland is tricky, it is a large rock surface 80% covered by an ice sheet nearly 3,200 meters (2 miles) thick. In Greenland the energy resource is 81% renewables (100% renewables targeted by 2050). Although Greenland and its surrounding seas are rich in difficult-to-extract oil and gas, the government in 2021, banned all future oil and gas exploration. Greenlanders know the impacts of global warming.
Eighty-nine percent of Greenland’s population of 56,000 — its heritage and culture — is of Inuit descent, 7.5 % are Danes. Towns and cities are clustered along the ice-free southern island tip. Greenland, a Danish territory since 1380, became an autonomous territory in 2008, all Greenlanders are Danish citizens, all Greenlanders are EU (European Union) citizens.
Why Greenland — why sustained U.S. interest over a century and a half? Why heightened rhetoric about its acquisition? The U.S. isn’t hooked by the dominant fishing industry — 90% of Greenland’s current economy. Rather size, strategic location, proximity are long standing factors joined more recently by the presence of rare mineral and gem deposits.
Greenland’s location is key — always as a buffer for U.S. security in the North. More recently its location as a prime trade and transport advantage with waterways from Asia altered northward by the melting of the Arctic. Being the earth’s northernmost land point is advantageous for Greenland as ownership of the Arctic area fumes as an international debate among Russia, the U.S., Canada, Denmark, and Greenland over who owns the North Pole. With acquisition of Greenland, U.S. ownership positioning would be strengthened.
In 2020, Thule Air Base, operating in Greenland since WWII, was transferred to the United States Space Force, newly created in the previous Trump administration, and renamed Pituffik Space Station. This space v air base is described as housing missile warning systems along with space surveillance and control sensors. The U.S.’s northernmost military base has expanded its scope, upping its strategic importance.
The U.S. government, U.S. corporations and U.S. billionaires hold eyes and desires for Greenland. It doth promise to be a green, green land.
Why not Greenland?
‘Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long fight for freedom.’
—Múte Bourup Eged, Greenland PM
Without upscale pressures of force, Greenland doesn’t present as a receptive audience for acquisition particularly by the U.S. where capitalism holds sway and its diversity conscience is waning. Positioned in the Arctic where global warming is most advanced coupled with a dominant Inuit culture having experienced years of being “lesser” (unequal treatment, access and wages), an indigenous resistance to extractive capitalism is deep and active in Greenland. Oil and gas extraction is banned, renewables are the energy sources of choice.
In the past, Greenland’s icesheet shrank annually and was renewed annually with Arctic snows and cold. In recent years the ice shrinkage hasn’t been replaced, warming effects are threatening.
‘Ice in the West Antarctic and over Greenland, i.e., ice that’s over a rock at the moment, that will raise the level of the sea as it slides into the ocean, putting at risk everyone and everything that lives on the coasts, and includes an enormous percentage of the world’s people.’ — Bill McKibben
Some here may doubt warming impacts, some may snicker and some may recall recent photos of Americans along the Atlantic coast moving their homes back from a receded shoreline and struggling to obtain home insurance in areas susceptible to ever increasing storms eroding shorelines.
A brouhaha is brewing. It isn’t active, but it’s surprisingly aggressive, this rumbling of takeovers of nations who have been longtime neighbors and friends. Trump isn’t yet President, no real estate slam dunk has been proposed and accepted, no tariffs cited, there is not yet a Trump appointed Ambassador to Denmark — there’s a nominee to be confirmed. Trump has dispatched his crack negotiator, skilled Donald Trump Jr., recently for a private visit to Greenland perhaps to smooth talks, lay positive foundations for discussions. Perhaps these talks weren’t congenial.
Like other emerging policies and potential aggressive actions suggested by Trump or his forming administration, an acquisition of Greenland, by many possible means, shapes pathways for expanded access and new streams of money for many.
Kathy Herald-Marlowe lives in Sharon.
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