Trouble Getting Weight Loss Drugs Covered by Insurance? Here’s What To Know

A professional in-home caregiver lost her coverage for Zepbound. She soon realized getting it back was not straightforward.

“I was like: ‘What am I going to do? Hopefully I can just continue keeping this weight off.’” Share your story.

Healthcare Helpline helps you navigate the hurdles between you and good care. Send us your tricky question and we may tap a policy sleuth to puzzle it out.

This crowdsourced project is from NPR and KFF Health News. Deborah Finley, 50, of Lodi, California, said her weight started to worry her during the early days of covid.

That’s when she noticed a lot of the people who were on ventilators or dying had something in common: obesity. “It was a scary time,” she said.

As a single mom, she was afraid “that I wouldn’t be here for my daughter.” Finley had been diagnosed with sleep apnea and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and she was prediabetic. Her pulmonologist suggested bariatric surgery but couldn’t get Finley’s insurer to cover it.