Getting Personal About Obesity and Ozempic

By Dan Eisner, Employee Benefits Advisor.

Over the past 2-1/2 years, I have written many times about Ozempic and obesity. Early on, I wrote on this revolutionary drug and how it fit into the employee benefits industry. After that I provided updates on how the market was changing around Ozempic and the broader class of weight loss drugs.  Most recently, I wrote about the stigma around obesity and the possibilities for Ozempic to address a significant chronic disease impacting the majority of Canadians.

With this article, I have a more personal story. I have dealt with weight issues for most of my life and put on roughly a pound a year of weight gain over the last 25 years. This weight gain came steadily over the years in spite of staying relatively active. It is difficult to pinpoint what the main variables were for me as there is no single driver in my personal journey.

About two years ago I had a discussion with my physician around Ozempic. Please note that I am not biased towards one weight loss drug or another, but that was the “go to” weight loss drug at the time even though it was developed for Diabetes. We decided to give it a try, and I pay for it personally as Ozempic is not covered for weight loss.

The results to date have been very positive as I have lost about 15% of my body weight over the last 2 years. More importantly, this weight loss has been slow and steady with no major relapses. While it has worked for me so far, I do know that it is not guaranteed to work for everyone. It worked because it generated a feeling of satiation for me. However, I must highlight that this is not a miracle drug and, based on my personal experience, I believe individuals need to do their part and respect that feeling of satiation, change their diet and increase their activity levels and exercise.

Until that discussion with my physician, I personally felt the stigma faced by so many obese and overweight people and observed how guilt was generally applied as a first line of therapy. Having a prescription for Ozempic allowed me to get some initial momentum. It encouraged me to use a scale weekly to check my weight and monitor my progress. It motivated me to want to lose more weight. The process has not been simple nor easy, but it has not been as severe as a diet. Personally, I am not sure what the future holds and if I can reduce my reliance on its support, but I will continue to try and lose weight in a sustainable manner and live a healthier lifestyle.

So, what does this mean for others, for the insurance industry and for employee benefits plan sponsors? Here are some personal thoughts:

• Everyone needs to acknowledge that obesity is a chronic disease, not as per my personal opinion, but as per the medical professionals. Like for any other chronic disease, guilt plays no role in a treatment plan.

• Ozempic, and the broader class of weight loss drugs, have shown some impressive results but the results have also demonstrated that these drugs do not work for everyone. A critical question is around how to find the individuals that it will work for, and how to best support them on their journey.

• There is a significant annual cost to these drugs but, as a Chartered Professional Accountant, I intuitively believe there is a strong potential for a positive ROI through reduced health care expenditures in other areas (i.e., other prescribed drugs, knee braces, CPAP machines, etc.).  As well, tied to the stigma/guilt issue, we have never really critiqued other groundbreaking drugs for other chronic diseases around financial ROI.

• Several insurers are now developing innovative adjudication criteria to better determine who should be eligible for these drugs and how they should be supported. Most importantly, they are developing criteria to confirm who these drugs are not working for and removing their coverage and thus the related costs.  There is also future potential to tie this support into other health and wellness programs.

• Employee benefits plan sponsors should view their employee population through the lens of “equity” and ask themselves if overweight and obese employees are getting the proper support relative to other corporate initiatives designed to meet the diverse needs of employees.

Time for me to take a deep breath, as I have bared my soul and shared my journey. As an employee benefits advisor, I know that there is no one solution that meets everyone’s needs. I do hope that this article, and my ongoing focus on obesity and weight loss drugs, will stir some discussion amongst employee benefits industry players and plan sponsors. From those discussions, hopefully we can all find a better way for employee benefits plans to support the significant number of Canadians dealing with the chronic disease we call obesity.

We would be pleased to discuss your specific situation with you to identify the best strategy for your employee benefits plans. Should you have any questions on the above, please do not hesitate to contact any member of our team.

ZLC Employee Benefits Solutions is one of the fastest growing advisors for employee benefits and group retirement programs in Vancouver and we are fortunate to have the best people, resources, and clients. We provide value by leveraging one of the most skilled benefits teams – collectively over 450 years of experience within our team of 21 employee benefits specialists. We have been working with businesses ranging from 3 to over 75,000 plan members for the past 40 years.