{"id":987936,"date":"2026-08-08T01:29:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/987936\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:29:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:29:23","slug":"starbucks-is-cutting-glp-1-coverage-for-weight-loss-as-costs-climb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/987936\/","title":{"rendered":"Starbucks Is Cutting GLP-1 Coverage for Weight Loss As Costs Climb"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starbucks is pulling back coverage for weight-loss drugs<\/a>, a reversal that comes as employers’ spending on popular GLP-1 medicines soars.<\/p>\n

Starting in October, the Seattle-based coffee chain’s health plans will no longer cover GLP-1 medications<\/a> prescribed for weight loss for benefits-eligible employees, though the drugs may still be covered for other conditions. Starbucks offers health benefits to full- and part-time employees who work at least 20 hours a week.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Starbucks confirmed the decision, which hasn’t previously been reported, and declined to comment further.<\/p>\n

Starbucks’ move reflects a broader recalibration of a benefit that has rapidly reshaped corporate health plans. Originally developed for diabetes, GLP-1 drugs have become highly sought-after treatments for obesity, <\/a>which is associated with a range of chronic health conditions. Soaring costs, however, are prompting some employers to limit eligibility.<\/p>\n

GLP-1 drugs accounted for 11.4% of corporate employers’ total annual claims last year, up from 6.9% in 2023, according to a 2026 survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, a nonprofit. Further, 36% of corporate employers covered the drugs for both diabetes and weight loss in 2026, while 60% covered them only for diabetes, the findings show.<\/p>\n

The pullback comes as employers confront faster-rising health costs more broadly. Average health-benefit costs per employee rose 6% last year and are projected to rise 6.7% this year, according to Mercer. The growing use of costly GLP-1 medications is one of the main drivers of the increase, the benefits-consulting firm said.<\/p>\n

Other large employers have stopped covering GLP-1s for weight loss, too, including Allina Health and, reportedly, PwC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

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Allina Health, a Minnesota-based health system, ended coverage for GLP-1 medications prescribed for weight loss for employees and their covered dependents in January 2025. The company said at the time <\/strong>that continuing the benefit would have significantly increased medical premiums. A spokesperson for Allina Health was not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n

Not all employers are shying away from covering GLP-1 drugs for obesity. Earlier this week, <\/strong>Bank of America CEO<\/a> Brian Moynihan said the bank spends more than $250 million a year on GLP-1 coverage for employees, or roughly 13% of its more than $2 billion annual healthcare budget. <\/strong>He said the bank views the expenditure as an investment in employee health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Starbucks is pulling back coverage for weight-loss drugs, a reversal that comes as employers’ spending on popular GLP-1…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":987937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6],"tags":[280512,27227,396213,64,3655,10000,396214,6982,396212,94791,205698,27184,22195,67,132,68,2452,428,1628],"class_list":["post-987936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-allina-health","tag-bank","tag-benefits-eligible-employee","tag-business","tag-diabetes","tag-drug","tag-employee-benefit-plans","tag-employer","tag-glp-1-coverage","tag-glp-1-medication","tag-health-benefit","tag-spokesperson","tag-starbucks","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-week","tag-weight-loss","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117057302652158533","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=987936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/987937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=987936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=987936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=987936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}