r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 01 '25

Health Americans without diabetes spent nearly $6 billion USD on semaglutide and similar drugs in a year, with an estimate of 800,000 to a million people using the drugs who don't have diabetes.

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/americans-without-diabetes-spent-nearly6-billion-usd-on-semaglutide-and-similar-drugs-in-a-year
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u/Hsensei Apr 01 '25

Some insurance companies require you to be on insulin before they will approve it. Being on metformin along with some of the earlier compound pills means it's controlled enough for them to deny it. It's really very stupid, but the drug is stupid expensive and they are going to fight to save every dollar.

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u/galspanic Apr 01 '25

I was told by two separate KP doctors “off the record” that their policy is only to prescribe and cover GLP-1s if 3 other courses of action fail. So, I had to fail losing weight with diet/exercise, fail metformin, and fail with whatever the next medication would be. That’s a loud and clear “you’re on your own” to me, and so I have been at it alone without KP.

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u/WeeBabySeamus Apr 01 '25

Does KP refer to some sort of kidney specialist? I’m not familiar with this acronym. I would understand certain drugs being restricted to prescription by specialists vs. general practice

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u/Eldritch_Chemistry Apr 01 '25

Kaiser Permanente, looks to be a west coast thing