B.C. doctors urge province, insurers to cover Ozempic for patients with chronic obesity

Since the province expanded coverage for Ozempic in early January, North Vancouver obesity medicine specialist Dr. Yashar Tashakkor has seen a dramatic uptick in patents inquiring about the appetite suppressant that’s become all the rage for rapid weight loss.

 

“I have a lot of patients that come specifically asking for it. I think it has been popularized in social media, and with the new changes in government authorization, it has allowed for better access for more patients,” said Tashakkor.

 

But the expanded Pharmacare coverage is only for patients with Type 2 diabetes. Everyone else has to pay for the injectable drug.

 

“The medication’s not cheap, it’s anywhere from $220 to $250 a month, which is significant,” said Tashakkor, who added it’s not normally covered by private insurance either.

“I do have a large number of patients who are not diabetic who would benefit from it from an obesity medicine perspective, but unfortunately cannot afford it.”

 

One of Tashakkor’s patients credits Ozempic with helping him lose 60 pounds.

“It’s pricey, it just something I felt I had to do for my health. And that’s why I continue to use it and to pay for it,” said Glen Miller, who says his weight loss has improved his blood pressure and sleep apnea.

 

“Weight can lead to a lot of other problems down the road that would end up being a medical expense, so it would make sense from a preventative standpoint to allow those to be covered by the plans,” said Miller.

 

Taskakkor argues it’s short-sighted for the province and insurance companies to only cover Ozempic for diabetic patients, and not those with chronic obesity.

 

“In the long term, if patients are losing 10 to 15 per cent of their weight, they will have less heart attacks, they will have less liver complications,” he said. “If we can prevent chronic diseases down the road by earlier intervention, then I would imagine the system and the insurance companies would save more money.”

 

Bariatric surgeon Dr. Ekua Yorke agrees.

 

“This goes back to treating obesity as a disease. If we intervene early, we can stop the downstream effects. If someone has a malignancy or any other condition, we don’t wait for it to be stage four diagnosis before we intervene,” she said.

 

“A lot of obesity is about prevention. If we are able to save the health care system money later on, then I don’t see why we are not intervening,” Yorke added.

 

The doctors acknowledge many patients want Ozempic for cosmetic weight loss, and aren’t advocating for universal coverage.

 

“There are specific BMI (body mass index) guidelines for this,” said Tashakkor. “This is not for somebody who wants to lose five pounds because they have an event to go to. This is for patients who chronically struggle with obesity and it has implications on other aspects of their life.”

 

Tashakkor is urging governments and insurance companies to do a simple cost-benefit analysis of covering Ozempic for patients with chronic obesity.

 

“At some point, it will make sense to insurance companies to go ahead and cover this in order to prevent costs from their end,” Tashakkor said, adding, “I imagine this will happen, hopefully sooner than later.”