Bloomberg surveyed every state’s Medicaid program and found 10 states that have broad coverage for weight loss drugs.
These Medicaid programs cover many obesity drugs: California, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
These states offer limited coverage: New Mexico, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina and New Jersey.
Connecticut will begin covering obesity drugs through Medicaid in July 2023.
Though most private insurers do not cover GLP-1 drugs approved for weight loss, they often cover the same drugs to treat Type 2 diabetes. The drugs are expensive, costing upward of $10,000 a year without insurance.
Drug manufacturers are lobbying Congress to allow Medicare to cover drugs to treat obesity. The manufacturers are hopeful private insurers will follow Medicare’s lead.
GLP-1 drugs would cost Medicare upward of $26.8 billion annually and could increase premiums, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in March.
