Why Are Weight Loss Drug Costs Going Through the Roof?
For Debbie Halstead, the weight loss medication Wegovy has been nothing short of a miracle. The Cool Ridge, West Virginia, woman shed 60 pounds and lowered her blood pressure nearly 60 points. What’s more, Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weight loss drug has relieved the “horrible arthritis in my knees” and made her feel “much, much better,” she said.
But beginning Jan. 1, Halstead’s federal Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance plan is changing coverage for glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic. These drugs will be downgraded to a different coverage tier on her insurance plan. The drug she now gets for $25 per month will skyrocket to $713 per month.
“Even if I didn’t lose another pound, I’d take this drug as long as I could,” Halstead said. “But at $700 a month, that’s not going to happen.”
Excerpted from yahoo! news
