Eli Lilly The United States launched a new program on Thursday aimed at helping more employers cover obesity drugs in the United States, targeting them as a major barrier to access for patients.
Lily and her biggest rival novo nordiskhas moved to reduce the cash price of a popular bariatric injection for people who want to pay the full cost out of pocket. However, due to high costs, employer coverage of obesity drugs remains uneven, with about half of those with commercial insurance unable to start or continue treatment, Lilly said in a release. List prices for Lilly’s weight loss and diabetes drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro exceed $1,000 per month.
Nearly one-fifth of companies with 200 or more employees (including 43% of companies with 5,000 or more employees said they covered GLP-1 drugs for weight loss purposes as of October), according to the Peterson KFF Health System Tracker survey.
“I think we’ll see in the coming months whether this is a solution that will allow some employers who have been sitting on the sidelines to buy obesity coverage for their employees,” Kevin Hahn, senior vice president at Lilly Employer, said in an interview. He added that some employers may choose to add coverage in the coming months, while others may wait until 2027.
Eli Lilly’s new Employer Connect platform aims to give employers more flexibility in how they cover obesity treatment, limiting company spending while giving employees access to medicines at low out-of-pocket costs. Hahn said the program addresses some of the “core tensions” for employers when considering coverage for obesity drugs, including transparency around drug pricing, flexibility in benefit design, and the ability to choose an independent administrator.
Through the program, employers can pay a net discounted price of $449 per month across all doses for Zepbound’s new multi-dose form, Hahn said. He added that the arrangement does not include rebates and the net price will allow employers to more clearly determine whether they can provide the drug.
Instead of relying on traditional benefit designs, employers can use Lilly’s platform to work with more than a dozen different third-party program administrators to help manage bariatric benefits and costs.
“Every employer is different. They all want to design things according to their unique needs and workforce,” Hahn said.
Employers can choose from more than 15 managers to design benefits that fit their budget and worker needs. Some managers focus on managing core functions such as managing obesity benefits for employees, enrollment, eligibility, and billing. Some administrators specialize in comprehensive obesity management and provide telemedicine, nutritional, and lifestyle support to patients.
Lilly plans to expand the number of program administrators on the platform. Administrators already on the platform include GoodRx, Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Co., Sesame, Teladoc Health, 9amHealth, Andel, Calibrate Health, Crux Health, eMed, FlyteHealth, Form Health, Goodpath, Ilant Health, Onsera Health, ReviveHealth, Salta Direct Primary Care, Transcarent, Waltz Health.
“Our goal was to build a platform that would allow these companies to compete on the value of their services to employers,” Hahn said. Since all administrators are offering the same drugs at the same price, the employer is left to decide, “Who can best serve me in terms of administering this program as I define it?”
People with government insurance may also have easier access to obesity drugs. Under a landmark agreement between Lilly and Novo with President Donald Trump, Medicare will cover these treatments for the first time later this year.
