November Obesity Coverage Watch: Investing in Comprehensive Obesity Care Is Key to a Healthier Workforce
November 15, 2025
📊Data Dive: Covering Comprehensive Obesity Care Bends the Cost Curve
The hidden cost of not treating obesity: Business and benefits leaders recently convened at the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions’ Annual Forum and discussed the significant financial toll associated with not treating obesity as the chronic disease that it is.
- In 2023, the economic burden of obesity was $347 billion, with the disease costing an average of $6,492 per employee.
- This includes $1,514 in higher medical costs, $1,755 in higher absenteeism costs and $2,427 in higher presenteeism costs.
Employers will find ways to cover the full range of care: During the Forum’s obesity-focused sessions, panelists emphasized that it is not a question of if, but when commercial insurance will cover FDA-approved obesity management medications (OMMs).
- Catching up: The Trump administration recently announced new efforts to improve access to OMMs in both the Medicare and Medicaid programs. As has been the case with other medications, enabling Medicare to cover these drugs for obesity may lead to expanded access in the commercial market.
- Bending the cost curve: New research from GlobalData estimates that covering modern OMMs would generate upwards of $2,250 in annual cost savings per commercially insured adult living with obesity.
Coverage is up at large firms: The share of firms with 5,000 or more workers covering OMMs increased significantly over the last year from 28% in 2024 to 43% in 2025, according to an analysis by KFF.
- As one occupational health manager for a large manufacturer put it: “Our insurance provider, Cigna told us that within the next 9 to 12 months, there’s really not going to be a choice, that all insurance companies are probably going to be covering GLP-1s for weight loss.”
🎯Advocacy in Action: ~40,000 Individuals Call on Employers to Cover the Full Range of Obesity Care
Nearly 40,000 individuals across the country have called on employers to cover the full range of comprehensive obesity care through a petition led by the EveryBODY Covered campaign. This milestone builds on the campaign’s open letter to employers, which was signed by 68 organizations across the healthcare landscape and shared with executives at top workplaces for women.
- Obesity disproportionately impacts working women across the country: Women living with the disease are less likely to be promoted and earn 9% less relative to women with a healthy weight.
- As Cassie Maxwell, an EveryBODY Covered advocate from West Virginia, stated: “Employers must recognize that implementing comprehensive obesity care isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s an investment in a healthier, more productive workforce.”
Learn more about the petition and read the full press release here.
📣What They’re Saying: Treating Obesity is an Investment in a Healthier Society
- Sandra Barbosu, Ph.D., associate director of ITIF’s Center for Life Sciences Innovation, on how addressing obesity with the full continuum of care strengthens the economy, The Hill:
- “Equitable access, clinical oversight and integration with lifestyle support will remain essential. But when used strategically, GLP-1s offer a rare opportunity to address chronic disease in a way that also strengthens economic resilience. This is not just about reducing body weight — it is about unlocking economic capacity by lowering long-term health care expenditures, strengthening the workforce and relieving pressure on key public systems.”
- An SVP of Human Resources at a large non-profit on how treating obesity means treating the root of the over 200 health complications associated with disease, KFF health system tracker report:
- “You know, when you bring the weight down, the blood pressure comes down, the cholesterol comes down… there are a lot of really good benefits to [other conditions] that that could be expensive, that are more expensive than the drug, especially with the drug cost coming down.”
If you’re interested in talking to business and key organizational leaders, patient advocates or healthcare providers on the need for increased employer-sponsored coverage, please contact us at info@everybodycovered.org.