Digital health company Ro launches GLP-1 insurance-coverage checker to help patients navigate costs
The direct-to-consumer health-care startup Ro launched a new free tool Tuesday to help patients determine whether their insurance covers a buzzy class of weight loss and diabetes drugs called GLP-1s.
Most insurance plans cover GLP-1s when they are used to treat diabetes, so those patients can usually avoid the roughly $1,000 monthly price tag of the medications. But coverage of weight loss treatments is less widespread, and navigating the complex insurance landscape can be challenging for patients and time consuming for doctors who prescribe the medications.
Some patients may be missing out on treatment because they simply don’t know they have coverage. Ro said nearly half of the company’s patients have some form of insurance coverage for a GLP-1, according to its customer data.
Ro said it hopes its new tool can help patients understand their coverage options so they can decide how to pursue weight loss. The digital health company may benefit too, as it could drive some patients to join the company’s GLP-1 program.
Demand for GLP-1s, including Novo Nordisk‘s weight loss treatment Wegovy and diabetes injection Ozempic, has outstripped supply over the last year in the U.S. Other drugmakers — and digital health companies like Ro — are scrambling to capitalize on the booming GLP-1 market, which analysts say could be worth more than $100 billion by the end of the decade.
Patients in Ro’s program can get prescribed a GLP-1, and the company also offers compounded versions of the medication when the branded versions are in short supply. Compounded GLP-1s are custom-made alternatives to brand drugs designed to meet a specific patient’s needs.
The program also allows patients to meet monthly with a doctor and access an educational curriculum for weight management. It includes 24/7 messaging, one-on-one coaching with nurses and help with navigating insurance coverage.
“The burden to understand the cost, as well as the burden to get coverage is the No. 1 reason why patients don’t even take the first step,” Ro co-founder and CEO Zachariah Reitano told CNBC in an interview. “We really just wanted to make sure that at the earliest possible moment in a journey, patients have that information to be able to decide the best next step.”