Leftists Can Have Socialized Medicine or Wage War on Weight-Loss Drugs. Pick One.

Harvard Medical School held an event on the "Pathology of Unruly Bodies," during which the non-medical "experts" were railing against anti-obesity drugs as part of "indoctrination" to support the "ills of 'empire and imperialism.'"

Harvard Medical School Holds Panel Raising Whether Weight Loss Drugs are an Imperialistic, Militaristic Plot https://t.co/jPXSiox9QG

— PubliusNV (@PubliusNV) October 24, 2026

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The panel was devoid of actual medical experts. It was dressed up in medical terms with the use of the word “pathology.” It could have easily been billed as “GLP-1 Anti-Body.” The panel included such experts as Da’Shaun L Harrison, who recently drew notoriety for claiming at the Socialism 2026 conference in Chicago that GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic and Zepbound constitute “genocide” against fat people.

Another headliner was Roxane Gay, the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University–New Brunswick and the artist-in-residence at Harvard Medical School. Professor Gay (the cousin of former Harvard University President Claudine Gay) had called for the release of Luigi Mangione, who murdered Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, two years ago.

Despite her extremism and penchant for murderers like Mangione, Gay writes for the New York Times and apparently likes to flip off people in public. Harvard decided she was exactly what they needed to help shape their medical students. She is part of the radical chic of higher education, where no views are too far left (while departments purge conservatives and libertarians).

So now I'm going to pose a question to the Left: do you want to wage war on weight loss drugs or do you want socialized medicine?

Because you get one or the other, so choose.

The CDC estimates that the annual costs of obesity are somewhere between $173 billion and $260 billion, and individual medical costs for obese Americans are at least $1,861 higher per person than those with a healthy weight.

The U.S. House Joint Economic Committee, excess medical spending driven by obesity and related chronic illnesses like Type 2 diabetes and heart disease) is expected to reach up to $9.1 trillion over the next decade. Beyond direct healthcare costs, reduced economic output (e.g. sick days) and presenteeism (lower productivity while at work) will cost employers and employees $196 billion annually.

All told, the overall economic impact of direct medical treatments, workplace issues, disability payments and lost economic productivity the financial burden of obesity exceeds $400 billion per year.

Setting aside the many objections to socialized medicine, this in and of itself is unsustainable. This isn't cancer treatment, where even the healthiest individuals can get the disease. This isn't emergency care. This is the cost of a condition that is largely preventable and treatable with diet, exercise, and now weight loss medications.

I say this as someone who has struggled with her weight for her entire life and has lost 100 pounds without the assistance of GLP-1 medications. It's not easy. It's not fun. But the costs of being overweight — mentally, physically, and financially — are not worth it.

And when the government is asking taxpayers to foot the bill for everyone's healthcare, the blunt reality is this: we get a say in how you live your life. We get to say that you have to lose weight because your chronic conditions are costing us too much. We get to say how much you eat and how frequently you exercise.

He who controls the purse strings controls you.

If that reality is unappealing, then your choice is clear: oppose socialized medicine or lose weight of your own accord, with or without GLP-1 drugs.