Pricey Ozempic for weight loss is increasing the Dutch health gap, experts fear

The number of Netherlands residents using medicines like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro for weight loss is increasing significantly. As health insurers don’t reimburse these expensive medicines for weight loss, users have to pay the thousands of euros they cost per year out of their own pocket. And that is increasing the health gap in the Netherlands, experts told Nieuwsuur.

In 2022, pharmacists filled around 2,000 prescriptions for medicines like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. Last year, this happened 109,000 times, according to figures Nieuwsuur requested from the Pharmaceutical Key Figures Foundation.

And this boom is only beginning, experts believe. “The market will be flooded with these types of medicines. Their use will undoubtedly increase exponentially and spectacularly,” Jaap Seidell, an emeritus professor of nutrition and health, told the current affairs program.

Last summer, the Dutch Healthcare Institute advised Health Minister Fleur Agema not to cover Wegovy - the Ozempic cousin specifically intended for weight loss - in the basic health insurance package. The medicine is effective, but there are too many uncertainties about the long-term health effects, the Institute said. It also warned about the costs. The Netherlands counts approximately 7 million overweight residents with a BMI higher than 25. Based on the registration of the medicine, 4.2 million would be eligible for its use. Covering that in health insurance could cost billions.

Ozempic is only covered for the treatment of type II diabetes. Mounjaro isn’t covered at all yet. So people who use these medicines for weight loss have to pay for it themselves. And the price tag is hefty. Ozempic costs 160 euros per month, and Mounjaro around 410 euros per month. And that excludes the costs of the mandatory year of coaching and guidance.

The slimming injections require a doctor’s prescription. Those who are assertive and have the financial means can easily get hold of them, Marlies Dankers, a pharmacist at the Institute for Responsible Use of Medicines, told Nieuwsuur. “That is something that worries me. Now a select group of patients are getting these drugs while we know that obesity in people with a lower social status often has a much greater impact, also on the quality of life. The health gap, which already exists in the Netherlands, is only getting bigger because of this.”

Emeritus Professor Seidell agrees. “And that can undermine solidarity in healthcare. Why would you still pay high health insurance premiums for the collective if you have to pay for all your obesity medicines separately.”