The Hidden Cost of Waiting: Why Now Is The Time to Act on GLP-1s and Metabolic Health
Metabolic health trends make one thing clear: current solutions aren’t working.
Over 70% of American adults are overweight or obese, contributing to rising claims, escalating pharmacy spend, and mounting productivity losses. Despite investments in care management and wellness programs, obesity and diabetes—and the costs tied to them—continue to climb.
It’s time to do something different. Every day of delay is a missed opportunity for the cost savings and population health improvements that health plan and benefits leaders want and need.
The price of sticking with the status quo
For years, diet and exercise have been the default approach to weight loss. However, media hype and mass marketing campaigns have driven unprecedented demand for expensive GLP-1s. Medications can play a role, but using them alone creates a lifetime of escalating costs without addressing the root cause of disease: poor nutrition and damaged metabolic health.
Every day you delay addressing rising GLP-1 use and unmanaged metabolic disease, costs grow. Without intervention, employers and health plans face steep consequences, including a projected 9% increase in healthcare cost trend. The primary drivers? Rising GLP-1 utilization for conditions other than diabetes, worsening chronic condition progression, and costly complications like heart disease, liver disease, and hospitalizations.
Without unlimited funds to cover an ever-increasing pharmacy line item, sticking with the status quo is no longer sustainable.
How to bend the healthcare cost trend
With Virta, it’s different. While other solutions slow the trend, Virta reverses chronic conditions instead of managing them. As a result, costs decrease as members reduce or eliminate reliance on expensive medications–in year one. With Virta:
- GLP-1 use is reduced by 50% among current takers by steering members to Virta’s GLP-1 center of excellence
- Costly medications are safely deprescribed with provider oversight, including GLP-1s, insulin, and other medications, while improving metabolic markers
- Chronic disease progression is reversed—especially type 2 diabetes and obesity
- ER visits, hospitalizations, and downstream costs are reduced
When metabolic health improves, so does whole person health. Virta is also proven to improve sleep quality1, mental health2, and workforce productivity. These improvements translate to an estimated $3,650 reduction in absenteeism3 and $1,150 in out-of-pocket savings4 over two years for Virta members.
Waiting hurts—why acting now pays off
The math is simple: delaying care leads to compounding costs. It also means more years of members struggling with fatigue, pain, and stigma that could be avoided.
Virta’s solution delivers measurable savings and health gains in year one. Whether your goal is to reduce unnecessary GLP-1 and pharmacy spend, improve member outcomes, or show ROI to leadership, the time to act is now.
Don’t wait another year to change the trend. Let’s talk today about how Virta can partner with you to unlock savings and transform lives–starting now.