Financial institution of America spends greater than $250 million a yr protecting GLP-1 weight reduction medicine for its staff, CEO Brian Moynihan instructed CNBC on Wednesday, saying the quickly rising value is a worthwhile funding in his workforce.
The corporate units apart greater than $2 billion a yr on healthcare general for BofA’s roughly 211,000 staff, that means that GLP-1 medicines alone now account for roughly 13% of all healthcare spending, per figures supplied by Moynihan.
“We spend about $250 million or extra on GLPs, and that is up from zero” 4 or 5 years in the past, Moynihan instructed CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin. “We see an incredible affect on the workers.”
Employers throughout the nation have grappled with hovering demand for GLP-1 medicine similar to Ozempic and Wegovy, which may value hundreds of {dollars} per affected person yearly. Many self-insured corporations and public employers have dropped or restricted protection or debated whether or not they can afford the remedies as utilization has climbed.
Moynihan acknowledged that some staff might go away Financial institution of America earlier than the corporate realizes the long-term financial savings from improved well being, however he mentioned the choice in the end displays a push to offer invaluable advantages.
Financial institution of America pairs entry to the medicine with well being teaching to assist monitor weight reduction and life-style changes, the CEO mentioned. Past long-term preventative well being, Moynihan pointed to rising medical knowledge suggesting nearer-term advantages, together with a decrease incidence of cardiovascular occasions.
“It has been fascinating to look at our teammates’ conduct on these changes — the lack of weight,” he mentioned.
Pricey protection
The nation’s second-largest lender by property can be utilizing its measurement to barter decrease costs from drugmakers and pharmacy profit managers, he mentioned.
“Imagine me, we’re pounding all people on value and making an attempt to get as low-cost [as possible],” Moynihan mentioned. “However our view is that [because of] the long-term well being advantages, plus there could also be extra short-term well being advantages … it is a good funding.”
Round 36% of employers mentioned they supply protection of GLP-1s for each diabetes and weight reduction, in keeping with a survey launched in July by the Worldwide Basis of Worker Profit Plans, or IFEBP, which incorporates greater than 30,000 member corporations or public establishments.
Although that share is up barely from 34% in 2024, it is flat from 2025, the survey discovered.
Price stays a major driver in employer choices round GLP-1 protection: In 2026, respondents to the IFEBP survey mentioned the medicine accounted for 11.4% of annual claims, up from 6.9% in 2023.
Weight problems drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have been pushing to spice up employer protection, which is vital to unlocking better uptake for his or her remedies. The discounted money costs of these medicine, that are a number of hundred {dollars} a month relying on the dose, are nonetheless unsustainable for some sufferers.
In March, Lilly launched a brand new program designed to present employers extra flexibility in how they cowl remedies. By the trouble, employers pays a web discounted value of $449 monthly for a new multi-dose kind of Zepbound throughout all doses.
