While West Virginia's employee health insurance program covers drugs like Ozempic for people with type 2 diabetes, officials decided to indefinitely pause covering their use for weight loss patients because of the cost. Other state and private insurers have adopted similar stances for the drugs, which can cost patients more than $1,000 per month if they have to pay out-of-pocket. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and North Carolina’s state employee public insurance agency stopped covering the drugs for weight loss last year. Those insurers say they ended coverage because the cost increased premiums for all customers.
