{"id":642006,"date":"2026-05-02T01:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T01:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/642006\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T01:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T01:23:10","slug":"pwc-cuts-weight-loss-drugs-from-employee-health-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/642006\/","title":{"rendered":"PwC cuts weight-loss drugs from employee health benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

PwC\u2019s consultants and bean counters in the US are used to trimming the fat from clients\u2019 budgets, but they will no longer be able to get weight-loss drugs through the firm\u2019s healthcare scheme to help them watch their own figures.<\/p>\n

The Big Four firm blamed \u201crapidly rising costs\u201d for its decision to limit its coverage so that only staff with diabetes will be eligible for GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) medicines, such as Ozempic<\/a> or Mounjaro.<\/p>\n

Employees learnt of the changes, which will come into force from July, when they went to renew their annual benefits. \u201cWe work so hard and do such long hours sitting in front of a computer, it is not conducive to an active lifestyle,\u201d one employee told the Financial Times, which first reported the policy changes. \u201cI don\u2019t think the obesity diagnosis is being treated respectfully.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, PwC<\/a> US confirmed it would continue to cover the cost of its employees\u2019 GLP-1 medication \u201cwhen prescribed for conditions aligned with established standards of care, such as type 2 diabetes, but [they] will not be included under pharmacy coverage for weight management\u201d.<\/p>\n

The firm added: \u201cThis change reflects broader industry trends and the need to manage rapidly rising costs, while maintaining access to clinically necessary treatments. We will continue to monitor the external landscape to make thoughtful benefits decisions that will support our people broadly and help keep coverage sustainable over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for PwC UK confirmed that UK-based staff did not typically have access to weight-loss drugs through its private medical insurance either. Accounting industry recruiters in the UK said they could not recall access to weight-loss drugs ever being discussed by people considering a move to one of the Big Four firms.<\/p>\n

The popularity of weight-loss drugs has soared in recent years and they can cost upwards of \u00a3300 a month for the strongest injections and heaviest doses. The cost is prompting other companies to also drop coverage of weight-loss jabs from their employee healthcare plans.<\/p>\n

Research last year by Blue Cross Blue Shield, an American not-for-profit health insurer, showed that including GLP-1 medications in coverage increased employers\u2019 insurance premiums by as much as 14 per cent. At the beginning of this year, Blue Cross Blue Shield stopped including weight-loss drugs for its own staff unless they had diabetes, saying that spiralling costs had become an \u201cunsustainable burden\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PwC\u2019s consultants and bean counters in the US are used to trimming the fat from clients\u2019 budgets, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[49,48,84,377],"class_list":["post-642006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}