RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Weight-loss drugs are becoming a popular employee perk, with almost a third of workers saying they’d switch jobs to get GLP-1 coverage. Now, Bank of America is spending $250 million or more yearly on the drugs for its staffers—and CEO Brian Moynihan says the upsides are well-worth the eye-watering cost.
“What we see is a great impact on the employees,” Moynihan recently said in an interview with CNBC . “We’ve always been about mental wellness, physical wellness.”
It’s part of a wider $2 billion a year wellness packaged for employee healthcare at the $436 billion bank. Staffers may have to cover the premium or copay for their GLP-1s, but the Wall Street titan is picking up the rest of the bill, amounting to nearly a quarter of a million dollars annually. And Moynihan says the health investment is worth it to support a healthier workforce.
“It’s lowering near-term incidents of heart issues for people taking, even if they don’t have all the attributes,” the CEO continued. “That’s the payback.”
The chief executive even acknowledged that Bank of America may not fully realize all the long-term benefits. He noted that some Bank of America staffers on GLP-1s may not see the health upsides until later in life, years after they’ve left the company, but he still believes in the investment.
“It’s the right thing to do for your teammates…We do it because we want to be the great place to work,” Moynihan said. “It’s been fascinating to watch our teammates’ behavior on these adjustments, the loss of weight. We monitor that, we give them coaches and everything, and so it’s a good investment by us.”
Bank of America had no further comment to share with Fortune.
Weight loss drugs are popular—but 60% of firms only offer it for diabetes
In the past couple of years, weight loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound have exploded on the wellness market.
Now, GLP-1s—originally created to help manage blood sugar levels for people with type 2 diabetes—have become a fixture of millions of Americans’ lives. Around 11% of U.S. adults currently take GLP-1 medications for weight loss purposes, a stark jump from 3% just two years ago, according to a recent Gallup analysis. So companies are steadily expanding their health offerings to meet workers where they are.
While 60% of employers said they offer GLP-1 coverage for diabetes only, around 36% also cover it for both diabetes and weight loss purposes, according to a recent study from IFEBP.
Earlier this year, consulting giant PwC announced it would no longer cover GLP-1s as an employee benefit for solely weight-loss purposes, blaming “rapidly rising costs.” Instead, the company said it would continue to offer the drug “when prescribed for conditions aligned with established standards of care, such as type 2 diabetes, but [they] will not be included under pharmacy coverage for weight management.”
Companies are weighing the high costs of GLP-1 offerings for workers
GLP-1s are an increasingly sought-after benefit for talent; around 30% of workers even said they would switch jobs if that got them coverage for the drugs, according to a survey from insurance broker NFP.
And they’ve gotten cheaper thanks to high demand, manufacturer price cuts, direct-to-consumer options, and new government programs. Now, a starting dose of Wegovy is available for just $149 a month, compared to $1,600 a month when it first launched in the U.S. in 2021. Or in the case of Amazon One Medical’s GLP-1 management program, insured individuals can snag the weight-loss drugs for as low as $25 a month.
While the drugs have become cheaper, soaring demand and long-term use have put employers in a financial pickle.
Now, more than a quarter of large corporations are ramping up GLP-1 coverage criteria in 2026 or 2027, according to an analysis from Mercer earlier this year. Around 11% of these big employers have dropped—or are planning to drop—coverage of the drugs for weight-loss purposes this year or next.
Health services company Cigna stopped covering GLP-1 weight-loss drugs including Wegovy and Zepbound in its employee health plan this July. The company said it made the change “as availability has increased and new options have emerged,” but maintained that staffers still have access to weight management programs and resources.
And HCA Healthcare , which employs hundreds of thousands of workers across its hospitals and medical centers, stopped covering the drugs for weight-loss this January after use of GLP-1s on its employee plan shot up 90% in 2025 alone. It still covers the drug for diabetes.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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