As costs mount for popular drugs such as Wegovy, a cousin of Ozempic, health plans are restricting coverage to save money

So many people have turned to drugs used for weight loss that some employers are cutting off insurance coverage to head off climbing bills.

Spending on the popular drugs, which belong to the class including Ozempic and can cost as much as $1,350 a month for a patient, has quickly leapt into the tens of millions of dollars for insurance plans. The outlays are straining the finances of some plans, including those funded by employers.

Continuing to pay for the medicines “is unsustainable due to the current rate of prescription drug expenditures,” said a university benefits newsletter.

Last month Morgan Stanley analysts raised their estimate for the anti-obesity market to $77 billion worldwide in 2030, up $23 billion from a previous forecast.

The University of Texas System health plan said it isn’t seeing any of the expected reduction in costs for other health conditions that weight loss could avert. “These savings are not being realized due to the excessive cost the drug manufacturer charges for the weight-loss medication,” the benefits newsletter said.

“These drugs work,” Dr. Irl Hirsch, a diabetes specialist from the University of Washington, said during a debate over the drugs’ cost at a recent medical meeting in San Diego. “Nobody’s arguing it. It’s that we don’t have access because of the cost.”