Canadian plans take the opposite turn as generic Ozempic lands at 35% of list price
About 14 percent of employers in the United States have already dropped coverage for GLP-1 drugs or plan to do so in 2027.
Reuters reported the finding from a survey released Tuesday by the Business Group on Health, which drew responses from 127 employers representing 11 million covered lives, according to MedCity News.
US healthcare costs are set to rise 9.2 percent in 2027 if employers make no changes to manage them, up from 8.5 percent in 2026, the group said in figures carried by Reuters.
Chief Healthcare Executive reported that employers expect plan design changes to pull the 2027 increase down to 8 percent, against a 2026 median of 8.5 percent that changes brought to 7 percent.
"This represents an unfortunate new reality for employers, who now face growing difficulty in budgeting and forecasting," said Ellen Kelsay, president of the Business Group on Health, in remarks carried by Reuters.
She said the situation calls for rethinking how to deliver value and health outcomes.
The share of US employers covering GLP-1 weight-loss drugs fell from 72 percent in 2025 to 60 percent in 2026, Reuters reported, with two-thirds of respondents seeing rising utilisation.
Brenna Shebel, vice president at the Business Group on Health, told Reuters most companies offering the drugs for weight loss are not yet seeing them reduce the cost of treating obesity-related conditions such as diabetes or sleep apnea.
"Not a single employer will be adding GLP-1 coverage for weight management next year in '27," Shebel said in comments reported by Chief Healthcare Executive.
Manufacturer list prices in the US put Zepbound at US$499 and Wegovy at US$1,349.02 per month, according to figures Reuters drew from company websites.
Pharmacy accounted for 25 percent of employer healthcare spending and is expected to rise 12 percent in 2027, unchanged from the year prior.
MedCity News reported that 95 percent of surveyed employers are concerned or very concerned about pharmacy costs, and 62 percent said hospital price increases are driving costs to a great or very great extent.
Cancer was the condition most often named as an acute cost driver, cited by 70 percent of firms, up from 58 percent in 2025, per Reuters, with musculoskeletal and cardiovascular conditions following.
Canadian plan sponsors face a projected medical trend rate of 8.3 percent in 2026, up from 7.4 percent in 2025, according to Aon's 2026 Global Medical Trend Rates Report as previously reported by Benefits and Pension Monitor.
Weight management climbed six positions to rank 11th among Canadian private drug plan categories, growing 61.0 percent in 2025 after 104.0 percent growth in 2024, and accounting for 2.5 percent of total eligible drug spend, TELUS Health said in its 2026 Drug Data Trends and National Benchmarks Report.
The same report said generic Ozempic is expected in Canada in late 2026 at roughly 35 percent of list price, cutting annual costs from a range of $1,500 to $6,100 in Canadian dollars down to $500 to $2,100.
Private drug plans account for roughly 38 percent of all prescribed drug spending in Canada, the report found, drawing on claims data covering more than 15 million insured people.
