The West Virginia-based state-funded weight-loss medication subsidy program has had life-changing outcomes, but it ended abruptly, leaving many people unable to pay for the expensive treatments.
Patients talk about their struggles, frustrations, and the tough decisions they now have to make.
A photo from Hilaria Swisher’s past looks like a stranger to her. GLP-1 weight loss medications turned her life around when she had struggled with excess weight since being a little girl.
She says, “That is not me,” talking about her former identity. Swisher has shed more than 27% of her body weight so far this year, dropping from 236 to 170 pounds by January 2024.
In 2020, West Virginia, a state with the highest rate of adult obesity in the US, introduced a promising subsidy scheme to assist public employees in affording GLP-1 medications.
These injectables, which cost more than $1,000 a month, are hailed as “game-changers” by experts like Dr. Laura Davisson of West Virginia University.
The initiative gave law enforcement, city workers, and teachers optimism by lowering copays to as low as $25.
However, the state abruptly halted the program in March 2024, citing inadequate supply and excessive expenditures. Patients like Lori Osborne felt deceived by the choice.
After losing 70 pounds on pharmaceuticals, Osborne now has monthly expenses of about $650, which is the same amount as her family’s food budget. She says, “It’s false hope,” as she worries about gaining her previous weight again.
To make their leftover medication last longer, some people, like Swisher, have resorted to rationing it. Some, like Osborne, resort to less expensive, non-FDA-approved substitutes.
There is a significant emotional cost, with many people feeling hopeless and abandoned.
Because the long-term health consequences of obesity far outweigh the initial treatment costs, experts caution that eliminating such programs is foolish.
The battle goes on for patients like Swisher and Osborne, but it has become unimaginably more difficult.
