Why Insurance Companies Should Cover Weight Loss Drugs

Weight loss companies have recently produced cheaper and more effective drugs for combating obesity. There are concerns about the ethicality of weight loss drugs, their high prices, and insurance companies choosing not to pay for weight loss medications. Because weight loss drugs improve obese people’s lives and help reduce other diseases, insurance companies should cover weight loss medication costs.

Weight loss drugs, such as Ozempic, mimic gut hormones and send signals to the brain saying that you are full, curbing your appetite. This makes you eat less food and thereby lose weight. Obese people take these drugs to lose weight in order to improve their lives.

The prices for weight loss drugs can be extreme. Name brands like Wegovy cost around $1000 to $1350 a month, but generic medications are around $150 to $500 per month. Insurance currently does not pay for weight loss drugs unless there is an existing condition such as type 2 diabetes that is related to the amount of body fat.

Weight loss drugs can dramatically improve an obese person’s life. It improves their personal appearance, which may raise their self-esteem. These medications can also provide additional benefits to people’s health by increasing daily activity levels that accompany weight reduction.

A weight loss drug called Tirzepatide reduces the risk for type 2 diabetes by 94% according to a 3 year clinical trial. Weight loss drugs also prevent certain types of cancer, such as colon cancer, and lower the risk of cardiac arrest, heart disease, and strokes.

However, weight loss drugs also can cause acute pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, and kidney complications as side effects, but the benefits outweigh these disadvantages. Others argue that drugs take away the important choices and responsibility to exercise or maintain a strict diet. On the other hand, enough people are obese who lack the time to exercise and need help to lose weight.

The benefits outweigh the negative side effects. Because of this, insurance companies should expand the pool of people available for these drugs and help cover some part of the cost of the drug.

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