Opinion: STAT+: How I’m helping companies think through whether they should cover GLP-1s like Ozempic for employees
We have a knack in the U.S. for blurring behavior and medicine. Look at weight. For a long time, we’ve treated obesity as a moral failing, a lack of willpower. That was wrong. Now we’re treating weight as a medical issue that can be cured by pill or injection. Is this any better?
Up to 130 million Americans could qualify for Ozempic or other GLP-1s (glucagon-like peptides), which cost nearly $1,000 per month. Never have so many of us been eligible for such an expensive drug. But let’s be honest, even if it were free, is dosing a third to half of the U.S. population a good idea?
Right now GLP-1s are providing not just moments of hope on scales in bathrooms but moments of reckoning in boardrooms. Many Americans are delighted that a monthly injection could offer a solution to obesity — no strict dieting or surgery necessary. Many companies are optimistic about the chance to improve the health of their employees, and, collectively, our country. But rightly, they have questions.
Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…
