Kalamazoo County employees will lose health coverage for weight-loss drugs like Ozempic starting in 2027, after commissioners scrapped an earlier plan that would have charged workers a $200 copay instead. The county says the new approach will save roughly $500,000 a year, while employees diagnosed with diabetes will keep full coverage for the same medications.
The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners approved the change as a modification to the county employee health care plan, according to MLive.com. Under the approved option, coverage for anti-obesity GLP-1 use will be eliminated beginning in 2027, even as GLP-1 medications prescribed for diabetes remain fully covered for employees who have that diagnosis.
The decision undoes an earlier proposal that would have kept weight-loss drugs covered but required employees to pay a flat $200 monthly copay. That plan carried its own complications: the $200 copay would have disqualified the county from receiving drug manufacturer rebates, according to the same report. Officials ultimately decided a clean break from anti-obesity coverage made more financial sense than the copay structure.
What Happens to Employees Who Want the Drugs
County employees who still want GLP-1 drugs for weight management will need to buy them on the private market through discount prescription programs, MLive reports. Employees will need to consider how to pay for the drugs themselves…