North Carolina ends weight loss drug coverage for state employees Monday
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — North Carolina state health care coverage for weight loss prescriptions like Wegovy will end on Monday.
That means the roughly 24,000 state employees taking those weight loss drugs will have to decide whether they can pay out of pocket.
State employees no longer covered for WeGovy, weight-loss medicines after board vote
State Treasurer Dale Folwell said ending coverage will save the state $100 million in 2024.
Folwell said he tried to negotiate with Novo Nordisk, the company that manufactures Wegovy, and CVS/Caremark, the state’s pharmacy benefits manager, to lower costs but those negotiations were unsuccessful.
In a statement, a spokesperson for CVS/Caremark said:
“Drug manufacturers need to stop dragging their feet and agree to offer their medicines at a fair price to North Carolina’s public servants. Let me be clear: the drug manufacturers can choose to lower the cost of these medicines today and offer relief to the state health plan.”
Without a prescription, a month’s supply of Wegovy costs around $1,300. The vast majority of Americans can’t afford to shell out that kind of money. Some physicians are worried about how the loss of coverage will impact their patients.
“I’m thinking about things like intracranial hypertension, which is a condition that tends to affect young women. It can be associated with vision, and it is uniquely responsive to weight loss. I have many patients with that condition that are on the state health plan, and if they lose access, they will gain weight and their condition will get worse,” said Dr. Andrea Coviello, the University of North Carolina’s Weight Management Program Director.
Dr. Coviello also said some of her patients are on medications like Wegovy to lose weight to become eligible for heart transplants.
While Wegovy is more than $1,300/month in the United States, that same drug only costs around $300 in parts of Europe.
Dr. Coviello said some of her patients have used that to their advantage.
“I have a handful [of patients] that work overseas and are back and forth to Europe and many of them are aware of the price differences. Some of them actually try to obtain the medication when they’re overseas to bring back for a couple of months of use,” she said.
Dr. Coviello said that because the drugs are so much cheaper in other countries, she’s hopeful they can be manufactured and sold for a cheaper price in the United States as well. She said state leaders are still trying to negotiate with the companies.
As for Ozempic, the state won’t be providing coverage for any new prescriptions, but those who are already covered for diabetes can keep their coverage.
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