West Virginia residents struggle to afford GLP-1 weight loss drugs after state ends subsidy program
A class of drugs known as GLP-1s have been helping people lose weight, but out of pocket costs put them out of reach for many Americans. In West Virginia, a subsidy program for public employees was showing promising results, but then the state abruptly ended it, leaving many searching for new solutions.
One beneficiary was Hilaria Swisher. She has struggled with her weight since she was little, but GLP-1 drugs have recently helped her.
"That's not me," she said, of an old photo of herself. "I look at that person and who I am now and I don't see me there. And even when this picture was taken, I didn't see me."
Weight loss injectables have exploded in popularity, with an estimated 15.5 million Americans reporting using them.
"In January, when I took my first shot, my official weight was 236.6," Swisher told CBS News. "I'm down to 170.2, so a total of over 27% of my body weight lost."
West Virginia has America's highest obesity rate among adults, more than 40%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the second highest rate for GLP-1 prescriptions. But West Virginia is also the country's third poorest state, making the shots wildly unaffordable for many who lack insurance.
In 2020, West Virginia launched a pilot program to subsidize the drugs for public employees. That means teachers, city workers and law enforcement officers were all eligible.
Swisher, who qualified for the program through her husband, has a copay of $25 a month for the drugs. The out-of-pocket cost for GLP-1 drugs can be more than $1,000 per month.
Dr. Laura Davisson, who directs the weight management programs at the West Virginia University Health System and oversaw care for hundreds of patients in the pilot program, told CBS News that GLP-1 drugs are "absolutely a game-changer."
But in March, the state insurance agency funding the West Virginia program announced it was over, saying there was not enough supply and it was too expensive.
It was a painful development for people like Lori Osborne, who had lost 70 pounds and six sizes in her clothes. Now, she says she wouldn't have started using GLP-1 drugs if she'd known she'd be cut off from them in the future.
"It's false hope," she said.
"Even with the coupon, I think Wegovy is $650 a month," Osborne said. "That would feed my family for a month."
Osborne told CBS News that the end of the program makes her "mad and ticked off" and the thought of gaining the weight back is "depressing."
"It is just demoralizing," she said.
Experts say ending the program is a mistake, noting that states eventually pay for obesity's complications anyway.
Osborne has now turned to a non-FDA approved, discounted version of the drug from out of state. Swisher, meanwhile, started rationing her remaining medication. She takes a shot every two weeks instead of once a week.
"Every time I take a shot, I calculate in my head what I have left," Swisher said. But she knows the supply will eventually run out.
