Employers feel the side effects of drugmaker control over Wegovy, Ozempic costs

North Carolina’s health insurance plan for state employees recently opted to stop covering popular new weight-loss drugs amid fears that costs could balloon to more than $1 billion over the next six years.

The 750,000 public employees enrolled in the plan must now pay out of pocket if they want to take Wegovy and a similar drug, Saxenda. And the state, the drugmakers and the company that manages the plan’s pharmacy benefits are all blaming each other.

What happened in North Carolina...