The new breed of weight loss drugs, it's a beat in itself for business reporters.

I'm David Brancaccio.

Prescriptions for Wagovi from Novo Nordisk have doubled, and prescriptions for Zepbound from Lilly have tripled, according to a recent report from Good RX, a company that searches for deals on medicines.

Weight loss drugs are expensive and insurance

plans often don't cover them if they're used for weight loss. Marketplaces Samantha Fields has that.

It's rare to turn on the TV or scroll the internet these days without hearing about some kind of

weight loss drug. You see celebrities talking about them, taking them. It's on late-night talk shows. Stacey Ducetzina at

Vanderbilt University Medical Center says lots of regular people are getting their hands on them, too.

The companies are selling so much product that they're having a really hard time keeping up with

manufacturing. And these drugs are expensive. Dusat Zina says the list prices are generally

$1,000 to $1,500 a month.

And Cynthia Cox at the health policy nonprofit KFF says that's often out of pocket.

Most health insurance will either not cover the drug or will significantly limit it.

That includes Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance.

Less than 20% of large employer-sponsored plans

cover these drugs, Cox says. And in the ACA marketplaces or Obamacare markets, almost no plans cover

them for weight loss. And the plans that do cover them don't necessarily guarantee affordability,

says Tori Marsh at Good RX.

People tend to assume I have insurance, I'm covered, I'm going to be paying my normal

copay, and that doesn't seem to be the case, unfortunately, for these medications.

With insurance, she says, they can still cost over $2,500 a year.

I'm Samantha Fields for Marketplace.

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