Employers are cutting GLP-1 coverage; Novo Nordisk sells Wegovy outside insurance for $149 to $199 a month

Employers are pulling GLP-1 coverage out of their health plans in 2027 open enrollment, and Novo Nordisk▲+1.67% — Novo Nordisk, up 1.67 percent today, the maker of Wegovy, has answered with a door that runs around the plan ³. On October 28 it partnered with Andel↗, a direct-to-employer marketplace, to let companies subsidize Wegovy, the higher-dose Wegovy HD and the once-daily Wegovy pill outside the PBM, on tax-free dollars rather than insurance ³.

Fewer employers cover the drugs every year

A WTW survey of companies with more than 100 workers↗ found 53% still cover GLP-1s for weight loss, down from 57% in 2025 and the first decline in three years; another 16% cover them but are considering removal, up from 9% ¹.

The driver is cost: Marsh's survey of over 1,800 employers projects 2027 health benefit costs up 8.2%, the largest rise since 2003, and GLP-1 use alone accounts for a full percentage point of that growth ¹. About 8% of employers already steer workers to cash channels like NovoCare or LillyDirect, and 28% more are planning or considering it ¹.

Novo's checkout is also Lilly's checkout

The Andel rail is not exclusive. Its founder and chief executive Jay Bregman said in May that the platform already worked with Eli Lilly's▼−0.98% — Eli Lilly, down 0.98 percent today Employer Connect program, so both drugmakers are using the same pipe to reach patients whose plans dropped them ¹. Each employer sets its own contribution, month to month, from about $100 per fill to 100% of the bill ¹. Andel is explicit that its discount drug program is not insurance and participants pay the discounted charges themselves ³.

That matters because the price patients land on is the manufacturer's cash list, and Novo has flagged it as promotional: $149 a month for the Wegovy pill and $199 for the injection, pricing that may be modified or canceled in 2027↗ ⁴. The employee carries that risk, not the employer.

The volume stays with the drugmakers either way

Meanwhile the money keeps moving to Lilly. Its third-quarter revenue hit $24.4 billion, up 39%↗, and its market value sat near $1.26 trillion on October 30 ². Novo's own filings show the stall↗: quarterly revenue of about $12.0 billion in Q2 2026, down 0.8% from a year earlier ⁵. The test comes on November 4, when Novo reports Q3: consensus is near $0.73 per ADR on $11.08 billion, after February's warning that 2026 sales and operating profit could fall 5% to 13%, which erased about $50 billion in market value ².

Priced for a floor, waiting for proof

If the new direct-to-employer rails fill the gap the plans leave, the worst may be priced into a stock down about 20% over twelve months while Lilly is up about 68% ². If employers keep retreating faster than the cash channels grow, the retreat shows up as a Novo and Lilly revenue problem instead of a benefits story. The market has already picked its winner; November 4 tells whether the floor is real ².