08:30 AM EST, 11/18/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Eli Lilly's ( LLY ) Zepbound and Novo Nordisk's ( NVO ) Wegovy are mostly covered by US government health plans than by commercial ones, Reuters reported Monday, citing an analysis by the Leverage consulting firm.

Medicaid programs for low-income families are the single biggest source of coverage for new weight-loss drugs, giving access to 31.6 million Americans, the report said. Another 14.6 million federal workers and their dependents have coverage, as well as 6 million state and local government employees and their family members, the report added. Combined, that's 52.2 million Americans with obesity coverage through government-funded health plans.

In comparison, there are 13.7 million have weight-loss drug coverage in commercial health plans, albeit this could be an undercount because many employers don't make their health plans public, the report said. Leverage estimates that as many as 10.7 million additional people nationwide have private workplace coverage, the report added.

(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)

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