Americans already have been spending a record amount of money thus far this holiday season, spurred on by the extended “Black Friday” (we are using quotes because Black Friday sales began in early November), Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday shopping days.
However, amidst our zeal to find the “perfect” gifts for our family members and friends, we hope that our readers make the effort, no matter how small, to remember those in need this holiday season.
Homelessness is at an all-time high in this country. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the number of unhoused Americans jumped significantly from 2023 to 2024 by about 18%.
It is estimated that homelessness in New York City has reached the highest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s.This past August, 103,391 people slept each night in NYC shelters. Even more depressingly, according to the Coalition for the Homeless, almost one-in-eight New York City school children experienced homelessness during the most recent school year.
The most vulnerable members of our society — including people with disabilities, children, and older adults — are experiencing homelessness at increasingly-higher rates. In addition, the proposed cuts to social safety net programs are expected to make the problem even worse.
The simple reality is that for far too many of our fellow Americans, the holidays bring little or no joy.
There are countless ways by which each of us can make the holidays brighter for those who are less fortunate, ranging from toy drives to food banks to Salvation Army Santas. With Christmas fast approaching, we urge everyone who has the means to do so to make that small effort to help those for whom the holidays are just another day.
Trump delivers on GLP-1 drugs
Back in January, we wrote an editorial entitled, “GLP-1 weight-loss drugs should be made affordable for all Americans.”
We pointed out that the U.S. ranks among the most obese nations in the world — an astounding 72 percent of Americans are deemed to be overweight. We also noted that the new GLP-1 drugs, which originally were designed to help persons with diabetes (by making sugary, salty, and high-fat foods less appealing), had the “side-effect” of bringing about significant weight-loss in the consumers of these drugs.
It also has been found that the GLP-1 drugs not only help to decrease users’ appetite for food, but also to reduce their cravings for harmful substances such as alcohol, drugs, and even cigarettes, and to reduce the “food noise” for those with eating disorders.
Researchers also have established that the GLP-1 drugs improve the health of our cardiovascular system, liver, brain, and kidneys, and even help with sleep apnea.
In short, the GLP-1 drugs offer the potential of a life-changing medicine that could benefit tens of millions of Americans.
However, as we noted in our editorial in January, the GLP-1 drugs were prohibitively expensive — about $1300 per month — for those not eligible for a prescription for their diabetes, which is the only condition covered by most health plans and Medicare for the drugs.
That all changed this past month with an agreement forged by President Donald Trump with the makers of these drugs, Eli Lilly (Mounjaro and Zepbound) and Novo Nordisk (Ozempic and Wegovy), by which they agreed to reduce their prices by more than 50%. For some consumers (who had been eligible for a previous 50% reduction off the $1300 sticker price), this has worked out to a greatly-reduced monthly rate of about $350 per month.
In short, President Trump’s deal makes these drugs much more affordable for millions of our fellow citizens who now can begin to take advantage of this miracle medicine. Trump’s efforts not only will benefit the health of individual Americans, but also promise to reduce our national healthcare costs in the years ahead.