If you want to lose weight, you often have to do a lot to achieve it. Change your diet, exercise and avoid small and large sins in everyday life. This is also why demand for the so-called weight loss injections Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy is very high. The pounds fall off with weekly injections, usually in the abdominal area. Celebrities like Elon Musk and Robbie Williams also swear by it.
Weight loss injections are only available with a private prescription
The weight loss injections are currently only available with a private prescription. Calculations from FOCUS online show that the estimated cost of the weight loss injections for, for example, ten kilograms of weight loss is 1,600 euros in extreme cases. Patients have to expect 300 euros per month. Due to the current bottleneck at Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, there are even more. The patients bear the costs themselves, and partial reimbursement by health insurance companies is not possible.
Experts want weight loss injections to be covered by health insurance companies
Pharmaceutical companies, specialists and politicians want to change that soon. “This has to be adjusted,” said Ilya Yuffa, CEO of US manufacturer Eli Lilly, recently. The pharmaceutical company received approval for its Mounjaro weight loss injection at the end of December. At the same time, the company is working on a weight loss pill that should come onto the market in the next few months.
Politicians are also jumping to the pharmaceutical companies’ side. Obesity patients should at least be reimbursed for the cost of the slimming injection. This is what Andrew Ullmann, health policy spokesman for the FDP, suggests. “This is about people who are seriously ill, with severe obesity-related illnesses.” From a medical perspective, it would make sense to give these patients a combination of weight-loss injections, a change in diet and exercise.
“The injection can prevent subsequent illnesses and suffering; it would be inhumane to refuse it,” says Jörg Puchta, endocrinologist and hormone expert from Munich, in an interview with the “Bild” newspaper. And further: The fact that health insurance companies refuse to cover additional payments “has to change.”
That’s why the health insurance company refuses to pay
The health insurance companies view this critically. Because the main thing here is the massive costs. With the new weight loss injections, health insurance costs could rise dramatically. The costs would therefore have to be borne by employees, pensioners and contributors. The largest increase in health insurance contributions is already planned for 2025.
According to estimates by the AOK Federal Association, the injections could cause a financial hole of 50 billion euros in the coffers per year. The calculation refers to the 19 percent of the population with a body mass index (BMI) over 30 if all morbidly obese adults in Germany were treated with it. The invoice has been issued, but it is not believed that the costs will be covered any time soon. There is a lack of sufficient data.
But it is also true that more and more pharmaceutical companies are entering the market and bringing injection syringes onto the market. The costs are expected to fall dramatically in the next few years. This could cause health insurance companies to rethink their approach. The Federal Ministry of Health also wants to wait and see and does not yet give the green light to cover the costs. Long-term studies that prove its actual effectiveness are not yet available. For example, if the active ingredient can prevent heart attacks, strokes or diabetes, it would make sense to cover the costs.