Colorado reverses course, will continue to cover cost of weight-loss drugs like Wegovy for state employees
Colorado has reversed course and decided to continue covering the cost of GLP-1 medications for state employees who are already using the class of drug for weight loss — with an asterisk.
Starting July 1, their copay will increase to $120 from $30.
The state won’t cover new GLP-1, or Glucagon-like peptide-1, prescriptions for weight loss starting in July as part of a cost-cutting measure to help balance the state budget.
Originally, the state planned to stop covering GLP-1 medications for weight loss altogether starting in July. But after an outcry from state lawmakers and the state employees union, the Department of Personnel and Administration changed course.
GLP-1 coverage for diabetes treatment was always, and will continue to be, exempt from the policy change.
The Department of Personnel and Administration said the cost of providing the GLP-1 benefit has grown exponentially. From July 2023 through December 2023, the cost was $1.5 million. That jumped to $4 million in the six months that followed, and then to $7 million from July 2024 through December 2024.
GLP-1 medications decrease the appetite of people who take them and slow their digestion. However, those who stop taking the drugs often see the benefits reverse.
Since 2017, Ozempic and Rybelsus have been approved for diabetes treatment. In June 2021, Wegovy was approved for weight loss. All three drugs have become wildly popular and are produced by the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk.
The personnel department said the total number of state employees who have a GLP-1 prescription only for obesity was 854 as of July 2024. The average state cost per prescription was just under $1,300.
“The sustainability and affordability of the state’s benefits program is, and has always been, a key consideration when making budget decisions,” Doug Platt, a DPA spokesman, said in a written statement.
Colorado is not the first state to grapple with the cost of covering weight-loss medications.
The state employee health insurance plans in West Virginia and North Carolina, two places with high obesity rates, covered the drugs before reversing course because of the financial burden.
Illinois began covering the cost of GLP-1 treatment for state employees in July 2024 at an estimated first-year cost of $210 million.
The legislature this year passed Senate Bill 48, which would require all large-group health insurance plans in Colorado to offer consumers a plan that covers GLP-1 drugs. The measure, if signed by the governor, would take effect in 2027.