Taxpayers need to know how heavy a toll they'll be paying for weight-loss drug coverage
The injectable drug Ozempic is shown Saturday, July 1, 2023, in Houston. Starting July 1, Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Mounjaro will be covered for state employees in Illinois.
The country’s obesity rates have been scaling up over the past two decades. Nearly 42% percent of adults in the U.S. qualified as obese in 2023, data collected by nonprofit Trust for America’s Health show.
Children haven’t been faring much better. Roughly 20% of boys and girls ages 2 to 19 were obese between 2017 and 2020, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The numbers for Black and Hispanic populations are even worse, due to a lack of nutritious food options, poor access to health care and other structural barriers.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration didn’t specify disparities among communities of color but cited “equity” as the goal for expanding insurance coverage of high-priced injectable weight-loss drugs for state workers.
