United States: Employers are extending greater availability of new, potent drugs for obesity to employees, but the size of the employer could impact early access significantly.
However, employers and employees of small businesses are generally caught in this quandary regarding this emerging health insurance coverage market.
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Thus, small businesses account for 50 percent of the total employment of employees in the US labor market and have been contributing a higher employment growth rate than big businesses for some time now.
Moreover, small business hiring has been rising steadily since Q1 2021, with a share of 53 percent among all 12.2 million total net new jobs for all workers with outlets across all employers in their average figures in line with the long-term pattern, as estimated by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, as CNBC reported.
About the blockbuster GLP-1 agonist drug
The blockbuster obesity drugs known as GLP-1 agonists have an average monthly cost nearing USD 1,000 on average, and the patients usually require them for years.
The availability of these weight-loss products is yet to come from more points in the supply chain; manufacturers are scaling up production, and instances of use are on the rise.
Studies have shown additional benefits ranging from sleep apnea to heart disease risk. However, of the 100 million or more US adults today considered obese, few have this ability to pay out of pocket for drugs, such as Wegovy from Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk and Zepbound from Eli Lilly instance.
Employee benefit plans to cover the drug
They analyzed a survey of 205 companies from last October by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, which showed that 76 percent of the employers who responded agreed to cover the GLP-1 diabetes drug, while only 27 percent agreed to do the same for weight loss, as CNBC reported.
However, only 13 percent of the plan sponsors said they were likely to include coverage on weight loss programs.
Covering these drugs is particularly harder for smaller employees, many of whom use off-the-shelf plans that are available via their insurance providers.
Although these plans offer coverage of GLP-1 drugs, most small businesses cannot afford to adopt such solutions.
While employees expect coverage, and other small employers want it to be possible, there are pros and cons, according to Shawn Gremminger, the president and the chief executive of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, an association on behalf of purchaser-led nonprofit organizations.