Would subsidising weight loss drugs make health care fairer?

Drazen_/Getty GLP-1 medicines such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have transformed the treatment of obesity, but access to them in Australia increasingly depends on something much less medical: whether you can afford them.

Around half a million Australians are now using GLP-1 medicines.

Nearly half access these medicines privately, paying between A$200 and $700 a month out of pocket.

Read more: Mounjaro is more effective for weight loss than Ozempic.

So how does it work? And why does it cost so much? Calls are becoming louder for the Australian government to subsidise GLP-1 medicines for people living with obesity who do not have diabetes.

This is because obesity costs the Australian economy billions of dollars each year.

But would subsidising GLP-1 medicines make health care in Australia fairer? Or would that money be better invested in the environments that shape health, such as affordable nutritious food, access to health care and better opportunities for physical activity? GLP-1 medicines work – while you take them A 2025 review involving almost 28,000 people found that semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy) led to an average weight loss of around 11% of body weight compared with placebo.

Importantly, most people maintained that weight loss for up to two years if they continued taking the medication.

But there’s a catch.

Like many treatments for chronic conditions, GLP-1 medicines appear to work best while people continue taking them.

Clinical trials show people generally maintain their weight loss during treatment.

But they are not paying hundreds of dollars a month out of pocket.

In the real world, cost is one of the biggest barriers to ongoing use.

Some research suggests more than half of users stop treatment within six months, most commonly because they can no longer afford it.