The extraordinary demand for pricey weight-loss drugs like Ozempic is forcing some employers to cancel insurance coverage to offset soaring bills, based on a report.
The favored drugs can cost as much as $1,350 a month for a patient taking Wegovy and Saxenda — which fall under the identical class because the celebrity-fueled craze for Ozempic.
That has put a strain on some employer-funded plans, which have seen spending on coverage skyrocket into the tens of tens of millions of dollars, based on The Wall Street Journal.
The associated fee has change into too high for the University of Texas System, which recently announced that as of Sept. 1 it could end coverage of Wegovy and Saxenda, developed by Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk to treat diabetes.
A yr and a half ago, UT Systems was footing a $1.5 million monthly bill for these weight-loss shots, which mimic the actions of the GLP-1 hormone that the pancreas releases after eating to make people feel full.
Now, its monthly payment has soared over $5 million, based on the Journal.
“Continuing to dispense these medications would add an extra $73 million a yr to the prescription plans, an amount that’s unsustainable,” UT Systems said, noting that it could also drive up premiums by as much as 3% for all employees.
![Weight-loss injections like Ozempic costs about $1,200 monthly without insurance coverage. Though it can be as cheap as $25 monthly with coverage, it costs employers millions.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000013867722.jpg?w=1024)
The general public university system noted that 3,200 of its employees enrolled in a advantages plan have been utilizing the coverage for Wegovy or Saxenda prescriptions — nearly 3% of its 115,000-staffer workforce.
The Post has sought comment from UT System.
One other large employer, Ascension Healthcare — the second-largest private healthcare system within the US that operates non-profit and Catholic hospitals — cut off its anti-obesity drugs including Wegovy and Saxenda July 1, based on a web based notice.
The St. Louis-based healthcare provider — which employs nearly 140,000 people and operates hospitals in 19 states, primarily within the Midwest and South — didn’t immediately reply to The Post’s request for comment.
Without insurance, Type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic — now better-known as a stylish, quick-fix semaglutide injection — can cost patients about $1,200 per thirty days, based on WebMD.
“But in case you’re one in all the lucky ones whose insurance covers the drug, it will possibly be less expensive,” the location added, noting that one pre-diabetic patient whose Ozempic prescription is roofed costs $25 for a 30-day supply.
The University of Michigan’s worker advantages still include coverage for the jabs, though it increased the co-pay from $20 to $45 in an effort to curb costs back in March, based on the university’s human resources site.
![The University of Texas System recently announced it would stop paying for weight-loss shots Wegovy and Saxenda -- drugs in the same class as Ozempic -- as prescriptions were costing the company over $5 million monthly.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000011566408.jpg?w=1024)
The move was designed to encourage health plan members to first try other, inexpensive options.
The co-pay for less-costly phentermine tablets, for instance, is just $10 a month.
The reimbursement cuts and other restrictions come on the expense of prevention treatments aimed to chop the prices to employers’ health plans, experts said.
“Everybody is anxious this treatment goes so as to add an enormous cost burden on health plans,” Michael Thompson, chief executive of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, which incorporates groups representing employers, told the Journal. “It’s one in all the important thing issues employers are having to wrestle with today due to prevalence of those medicines.”
Ozempic and the opposite drugs are sometimes covered by insurance once they’re prescribed to treat Type 2 diabetes and heart problems, which is what they were originally intended for.
But their demand has soared after patients discovered their slimming effects.
They’ve change into so popular that “individuals with diabetes have been struggling to get their hands on it amid widespread shortages,” based on WebMD.
Ozempic has particularly exploded amongst people wanting to slim down after it was revealed that celebrities like Khloe Kardashian and Chelsea Handler admitting to using it.
“Americans are being prescribed the drug [Ozempic] at a unprecedented pace and make up reportedly around 10% of worldwide prescriptions,” WebMD noted.
Elon Musk publicly proclaimed last October that he shed kilos with fasting and Wegovy.
Nevertheless, the prescription drugs have also been blamed for causing a slew of detrimental — and bizarre — unwanted side effects, including “Ozempic butt,” where users are claiming that their derrières have flattened together with their tummies, and “Ozempic finger,” where finger and wrist sizes were rapidly shrinking too, causing women to fear that their engagement rings would fall off.
![Novo Nordisk is the Denmark-based pharmaceutical company that makes Ozempic, Wegovy and Saxenda.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000013242722.jpg?w=1024)
The most recent alleged side effect is far more serious: Last month, Iceland’s health regulator flagged two cases of patients on Ozempic and one on Saxenda having suicidal and self harm-related thoughts.
One other Saxenda user reported thoughts of self-injury.
“The US healthcare system is complex and there are multiple aspects which affect how chronic diseases are understood, treated and covered by insurance,” a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk told The Post. “Importantly, Novo Nordisk is committed to making sure responsible use of our medicines.”
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