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PwC has told US staff it will no longer cover the cost of weight-loss drugs for employees unless they have diabetes, the latest big employer to struggle with the soaring bills for the new medicines.
The Big Four accounting and consulting firm will limit coverage starting from July, employees learnt when they went to renew their annual benefits, sparking upset among those affected.
PwC joins a growing list of businesses with curbs on access to the expensive medicines, as they become increasingly popular. Its health insurance will no longer cover GLP-1s for weight loss, weight management and associated conditions, it said.
“They basically want us to wait to become diabetic,” one employee told the FT, saying it amounted to discrimination against those struggling with health problems owing to weight, which can be exacerbated by their work.
“We work so hard and do such long hours sitting in front of a computer, it is not conducive to an active lifestyle,” the person said. “I don’t think the obesity diagnosis is being treated respectfully.”
Another described the decision as “greedy”, saying GLP-1 coverage was one reason they decided to join PwC recently. “Now I feel stupid for signing with them,” the person said.
PwC said in a statement to the FT that it would continue to cover its employees’ GLP-1 medications “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”.
It added: “This change reflects broader industry trends and the need to manage rapidly rising costs, while maintaining access to clinically necessary treatments. We will continue to monitor the external landscape to make thoughtful benefits decisions that will support our people broadly and help keep coverage sustainable over time.”
While US healthcare plans typically include some coverage for GLP-1s, access varies. A survey last year by the Peterson Center on Healthcare and KFF found 43 per cent of large employers cover the drugs for weight loss, up from 28 per cent in 2024, but “many employers reported that use was higher than expected and covering them significantly increased prescription drug cost”.
Weight-loss drugs are the top-selling medicines in the pharmaceutical industry and are dominated by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. While both companies have signed deals with US President Donald Trump to lower prices for obesity drugs, they remain expensive for health insurance plans, especially given their popularity.
Other employers have scrapped GLP-1 coverage this year. The not-for-profit health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts dropped GLP-1 coverage for its staff unless people have diabetes, saying it would otherwise be “unsustainable for our business”.
PwC has recently been pitching its consulting services to other employers wrestling with the dilemma.
“Over the past year, GLP-1s moved from a clinical treatment to a cultural phenomenon,” it wrote in a marketing document. “Coverage decisions that might seem straightforward on the surface — cover or don’t cover — carry consequences that ripple across workforce health, plan sustainability, and employee trust.”
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