Eli Lilly wants to make obesity drugs easier for employers to cover

Obesity rates are down in this country. At the same time, more and more people are taking GLP-1 weight loss drugs. A coincidence? I think not.

Despite that trend, a lot of employer-sponsored health plans won’t cover the treatments, especially at small- and medium-sized firms. So, Eli Lilly — the maker of Zepbound — is trying something new to get more employers on board.

Many companies have been reluctant to include GLP-1 weight loss drugs in their health benefits. For one, they cost a lot, and a lot of people want to take them.

Matthew Rae, an associate director at the nonpartisan health policy research firm KFF, has been surveying companies about the issue and said that those that do pay for the drugs have found themselves in a pickle. 

“Many employers were ending up spending much more money than they were anticipating,” he said. “So we get big chunks of employers in our survey and through discussions with employers who told us that they blew the budget.”

That’s led to a serious math problem, according to Luca Maini, an assistant professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. “Premiums have gone up this year for a variety of reasons, and I think GLP-1s have contributed to about 30% of that increase,” he said.

Some companies have even dropped coverage of them altogether. Overall, only one in five employer-sponsored health plans covers the drugs for weight loss. 

Eli Lilly has announced a new initiative trying to address these problems. They’re offering one transparent price — $450 a month for Zepbound — so that companies can budget better, per Senior Vice President Kevin Hern.

“We hope that the ability to see a discreet and clear net cost can help employers understand [whether] could they make this work and potentially access a new class of medicines for their employees,” he said.

Eli Lilly is also partnering with telehealth providers to help companies administer the drugs.

“And then the employer can choose, do they want telehealth services? Do they want to wrap around obesity management, lifestyle program, and point solution? And so we’re really trying to provide choice for the employers,” Hern said — all to get more of them to conclude that paying for the drugs is cheaper in the long run than the costs associated with obesity. 

Weight loss drugs and the economy

• From Feb. 26, 2026: FDA looks to put the brakes on compounded GLP-1s

• From Feb. 16, 2026: Why GLP-1 users spend more eating out

• From Oct. 8, 2025: As Ozempic changes how Americans eat, the food industry is trying to adapt