Hims could gain as employers cut weight-loss drug coverage

Hims already gets about a third of its revenue from weight-loss care, and employers are preparing to pull back from paying for weight-loss drugs. The shift could push more patients into cash-pay telehealth services such as Hims & Hers Health. Hims has built that business around bundled virtual consultations and medication access outside the traditional insurance system.

Employer-sponsored plans remain the most common source of health coverage in the United States, with more than 150 million Americans enrolled. In KFF’s 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey, 43% of firms with 5,000 or more workers covered GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, while coverage was lower at smaller companies, including 30% of firms with 1,000 to 4,999 workers and 16% of firms with 200 to 999 workers. KFF also found that 19% of firms with 200 or more workers said their largest plan covered a GLP-1 for weight loss. KFF found average family premiums for employer-sponsored coverage reached $26,993 in 2025.

Business Group on Health’s 2026 survey, completed in February and March among 105 employer members, found that 67% of surveyed employers cover GLP-1s for weight management. Nearly eight in 10 said the drugs are driving increases in company health care costs. Some employers are considering difficult tradeoffs, and some expect coverage to decline in 2027.

Direct-pay alternatives include NovoCare and LillyDirect, where Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly offer their own pharmacy pricing. KFF polling put the share of adults who have used GLP-1 drugs and got them from an online provider or website at about 17%.

Hims adjusted to the end of mass-compounded versions of the drugs after shortages eased. The company reported about $2.35 billion in revenue and $318 million in adjusted EBITDA for full-year 2025, with more than 2.5 million subscribers. It raised its 2026 revenue guidance to $2.8 billion to $3.0 billion after first-quarter results, and in a March 9 announcement said it would center its U.S. weight-loss strategy on FDA-approved GLP-1s through a collaboration with Novo Nordisk while keeping compounded semaglutide only on a limited scale.