Medicaid cuts target weight-loss drug coverage as costs soar

States leaders are ending or restricting Medicaid coverage for expensive weight loss drugs, as budgets tighten, federal cuts loom, and governors and lawmakers try to rein in runaway prescription drug costs. 

Budget bills in California, Connecticut and North Carolina would end Medicaid coverage for glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists, known as GLP-1s, prescribed solely to treat obesity, such as Wegovy. A health agency plan in Pennsylvania would make such drugs harder to access.