1 in 9 drug dollars now goes to GLP-1s. Is your plan ready?

New Canadian data just landed, and it’s a wake-up call for plan sponsors.

GLP-1 drugs (eg. Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda) now account for an average of 11.1% of annual drug claims among surveyed Canadian employer plans in 2026. That’s roughly 1 in every 9 claim dollars going to a single drug class.

Coverage is expanding fast. The share of employers covering GLP-1s for both diabetes and weight loss climbed from 31% to 37% in just one year, up from 17% two years ago.

Most of that coverage isn’t ring-fenced. 85% of sponsors who cover weight-loss GLP-1s pay through the standard drug plan, not a separate rider or carve-out. That means the cost shows up in the same bucket as every other prescription, with no dedicated controls.

And the market is still split. Among employers not yet covering weight-loss use, only 17% say they’re considering adding it, and most of those would still bring in a carve-out if they did. The rest remain undecided or opposed, largely over long-term cost and unclear outcome measurement.

The takeaway for plan sponsors: GLP-1s are no longer a niche cost line. They’re becoming a structural driver of drug spend, and the plans absorbing that growth through the standard formulary, with no rider, no cap, and no clear utilization strategy, are the ones most exposed if the trend keeps climbing.

Now is the time to ask: does your plan design still make sense for where GLP-1 costs are headed?

 

Sources:

Benefits Canada: canadian-employers-expanding-glp-1-coverage-for-weight-loss-survey (benefitscanada.com)

International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP): glp-1-drug-trends-canadian-employers-continue-to-increase-coverage-for-weight-loss (blog.ifebp.org)