Kalamazoo County commissioners are considering whether to keep covering GLP-1 drugs for county employees who are taking them only for weight loss.
During a board meeting Tuesday, Human Resources Director Sharon Brown said the county spends $1.5 million annually to cover the prescription drugs.
Democratic Commissioner Dale DeLeeuw said the cost is worth it.
“I know people that have been on this and it's just been a tremendous life change not just physically but mentally, makes happier employees. I mean, less visits to the chiropractor, less back problems,” DeLeeuw said.
"When I look at the survey [of county employees] and I see 44, almost 45%, want to keep it and then 23% don't care, to me that's two-thirds that are like, 'Yeah let's keep it,' compared to the 40% who want lower insurance costs."
Vice Chair John Taylor, also a Democrat, said the cost of coverage was too high.
"I think one of the craziest things that we do as a county is offer GLP-1s for non-diabetic, non-health-related issues," Taylor said.
"It's costing us $1.5 million a year. We could do so much more with that with benefits to our employees. And we're looking at, I mean, it's 20% of all prescription drug expense for people that are using this for cosmetic reasons, not for health-related reasons."
Commissioners also discussed potentially replacing the coverage with gym membership, free bikes, wellness plans or by hiring nutritionists.
County human resources director Sharon Brown said the discussion is only about whether to provide GLP-1s weight loss, including obesity without comorbidities. She said employees using the medications for conditions such as diabetes would still be covered.
No action was taken during the meeting, but Brown stated she would bring the issue back to the board in the coming weeks.
