RALEIGH, N.C. ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) — North Carolina state employees will soon have to pay out of pocket for WeGovy and other similar weight-loss drugs.
“There’s no reason that the state health plan North Carolina should be one of the largest purchasers of this drug in North America” said Dale Folwell, State Treasurer and chair of the Health Care Plan Board of Trustees .
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In a 4-3 vote, the state board made the move to save $100 million dollars in 2024. Folwell says officials tried to negotiate with the drug maker NovoNordisk to reduce the cost. The state had already voted to stop covering new prescriptions back on Jan. 1.
“We tried to put in place, [maybe change the requirements to] a body mass index that’s higher than 27 and our pharmacy benefit manager [CVS] said, ‘We have no interest, you’d lose your rebates,’ we have put forth four different solutions to try to resolve this problem leading up to this vote,” Folwell said.