Insurers to Cover Novo’s Wegovy for Some Medicare Heart Patients

Major health insurers will now cover Novo Nordisk A/S’s blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy for certain Medicare beneficiaries with heart-related conditions.

CVS Health Corp.’sAetna insurance unit, Elevance Health Inc., and nonprofit insurer Kaiser Permanente said in statements that they would cover Wegovy for reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Private health-care plans had previously resisted reimbursing GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy and Eli Lilly & Co.’s Zepbound because of their costs that can run upwards of $1,000 a month. The decision by major health plans to cover the drugs follows the publication of research that shows the ...