Prairie State Wire

Democrat Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker says his new rule requiring state taxpayers to buy weight loss drugs like Wegovy, Mounjaro and Ozempic for fat state employees will cost $210 million this year.

Dave McKinney of the Chicago Sun-Times reported Pritzker's projection Wednesday, writing that the governor's chief of staff was concerned state employees were having a hard time getting the popular injections, which mimic a naturally occurring hormone, alerting the brain of a fat person that they are full and to stop eating.

"(Pritzker) quietly pushed to expand coverage of high-priced weight-loss drugs for the state government’s workforce, a maneuver that could cost Illinois taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars starting this summer," McKinney wrote.

Pritzker added a clause on page 691 of last year's state budget, ordering that "the State Employees Group Insurance Program shall provide coverage for all types of injectable medicines prescribed on-label or off-label to improve glucose or weight loss for use by adults diagnosed or previously diagnosed with prediabetes, gestational diabetes, or obesity."

A March 2024 report by the Illinois Commission on Government forecasting and Accountability (CGFA) projected a 36.4 percent increase in prescription drug costs for state taxpayers, citing the clause.

"Various recently mandated requirements for state health insurance plans will allow coverage of a variety of specific medications not otherwise guaranteed to be covered, such as certain weight-loss medications," it said.

In North Carolina, its state employee health plan announced on April 2 it would no longer cover weight loss injections Wegovy, Mounjaro and Ozempic, as they "would’ve forced the State Health Plan to double its monthly premiums on many members."

A 2023 KFF study reported that, then, taxpayers in 16 states were paying for fat state employees' weight loss medication: California, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia, Hawaii and Delaware.

In Aug. 2019, Gov. Pritzker fractured his left leg walking around the Illinois State Fairgrounds.