Patients navigate an 'absolutely insane' maze to afford weight-loss drugs
Laura Davisson is an obesity medicine doctor and professor at West Virginia University, but a growing part of her job is not something she trained for in medical school: looking for the best deal she can get for her patients.
“It’s crazy,” she said of the ever-changing insurance landscape for weight-loss medications. “It’s absolutely insane to try to keep up with it all.”
Across the country, doctors who treat patients for obesity are being forced to develop what amounts to a subspecialty in navigating health coverage for the most popular class of weight-loss medications, known as GLP-1 drugs. The spotty insurance coverage for obesity is dividing patients into classes of haves and have-nots as many insurers throttle back access.
With list prices in excess of $1,000 a month, the cost of a single prescription is not extraordinary for health plans and employers, but the pressure of millions of patients seeking them is creating a major financial drain. So insurers are capping expenses by erecting a variety of hurdles before covering a GLP-1 drug for obesity - or ending coverage altogether.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/patients-navigate-absolutely-insane-maze-215400877.html