USA21 September, 20262 min read
JB Pritzker Says GLP-1 Helped Him Lose 80 Pounds After Diabetes Diagnosis
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Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes two years ago. Lost 80 pounds using a GLP-1 weight-loss drug.
Pritzker’s GLP-1 disclosure
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said he has been taking a GLP-1 drug since being diagnosed with diabetes two years ago, and he said he has lost 80 pounds.
Pritzker told CBS News that he has been “driven my whole life to lose weight,” and he said “the fact that I am now able to do it because this GLP-1 became available” has “meant a lot to me.”
Pritzker said his diabetes diagnosis came after his doctor told him, “Oh, no, you'll never come off of it,” and he said his doctor recommended that he take a GLP-1.
Pritzker said he injects himself with the GLP-1 medication every week, and he said he lost 2 pounds in the first week, describing “the strangest feeling” when he realized he did not need to eat as much.
Pressed on 2028
Pritzker said he has not made any decisions about “what I might do in the future,” and he said he wants to be the governor of the state of Illinois for a while longer. Pritzker told CBS that he is focused on being governor and running for reelection, and he said, “I honestly am focused on what's best for the people of Illinois.”
Pritzker said he has been exercising along Lake Michigan in Chicago on a 4-mile walk nearly every morning, and he said he has been walking nearly 4 miles a day. Pritzker also addressed the political pressure around his weight, and he said, “I've been overweight most of my life, really, since I was probably 7 or 8 years old,” while describing how his father Donald died of a heart attack at 39.
Illinois coverage and stakes
Pritzker said Illinois is covering GLP-1s on the state insurance plan for 55,000 state employees, and he said the state will save money.
Pritzker said, “Why? We're going to save money,” and he said fewer people will have diabetes and that people will be “less overweight, which causes so many other diseases.”
Pritzker said a woman told him the initiative saved her life, and he said he has an opportunity “to tell people that this is something that can work for them.”
Pritzker said he is no longer on insulin and that his glucose levels have gone back to normal, and he said he stopped taking insulin nine months ago while continuing the GLP-1 regimen.