People call GLP-1s life-changing. CT says it can’t afford them

CT Mirror – Sunday, March 23, 2025
By Katy Golvala

Four years ago, Sarah Makowicki was in constant pain. She desperately needed a knee replacement, but patients must have a body mass index of 40 or under to receive the procedure. At the time, Makowicki’s was nearly 70.

To bring her weight down, Makowicki underwent bariatric sleeve surgery, which involves removing a significant portion of the stomach, in December 2021. The results were dramatic — she lost 145 pounds over the next eight months. But then, before she reached the BMI she needed to qualify for a knee replacement, her weight loss stalled.

After about a year of limited progress, Makowicki’s physician recommended she start on Mounjaro, a glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist, commonly known as a GLP-1. The results were unlike anything she’d tried before.

“My mother put me in Weight Watchers when I was nine years old,” Makowicki, a 42-year-old resident of Deep River, said. “I’ve tried every diet and exercise and everything. There’s something in my body chemistry — it just doesn’t stick.”

Makowicki, who’s currently getting a Master’s in Social Work with a concentration in policy practice at the University of Connecticut, was able to get coverage of Mounjaro through her Medicaid insurance plan. By December 2023, she had lost enough weight to qualify for knee replacement surgery. She now lives pain free and credits the results, in no small part, to her weight loss medication.

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