HSE spent €500,000 a day last year on weight-loss jabs for patients on free drugs schemes
Darragh Mc Donagh
The HSE has spent more than €200 million on Ozempic and similar weight-loss jabs in less than three years, with 80,000 patients getting the medication on free drugs schemes in 2025.
The number of people availing of the injections at taxpayers’ expense has increased by a third since 2023, with the HSE spending an average of €550,000 every day on the jabs last year.
Records released by the health authority also show significant regional variation in the use of Ozempic and Saxenda, an injectable medicine specifically for weight loss that is funded by the HSE.
A total of 4,531 people in Kildare and West Wicklow received the jabs through free drugs schemes last year, with another 4,322 located in North Dublin, and 3,991 in Galway.
West Cork had the lowest number of patients availing of the medication with 1,007, followed by Roscommon (1,030), and Dun Laoghaire (1,148), according to figures obtained under freedom of information laws.
Ozempic is widely used privately for weight loss through off-label prescriptions but the HSE covers the cost of the drug through the medical card or Long-Term Illness (LTI) scheme only where a patient is diagnosed with diabetes.
However, Saxenda is funded by the HSE for the purpose of weight management through the medical card and Drugs Payment Scheme (DPS). Like Ozempic, this is an injectable GLP-1 drug that reduces appetite and lowers blood sugar.
Just under €212 million was spent on these two medicines under the medical card, DPS and LTI schemes in two years and eight months between January 2023 and September 2025, HSE records reveal.
Spend by scheme
The LTI scheme provides free drugs for patients with a range of medical conditions such as cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and diabetes. It is not means-tested.
A total of €161.9 million was spent on Ozempic under the scheme during the period, with 59,279 patients receiving the medicine during the first eight months of last year — 34% more than in 2023.
Kildare and West Wicklow accounted for €9.7 million of the total spend, with 3,418 people in the area availing of Ozempic for free under the scheme last year. North Dublin and Galway were the next-highest administrative areas.
Patients with medical cards were prescribed Ozempic and Saxenda at a cost of €41.2 million during the same period, with 17,968 people availing of the medication last year, representing an increase of 26% since 2023.
Galway had the highest number of medical card holders receiving the two drugs during the first eight months of 2025 (1,019), followed by Limerick (955). The lowest number was in Dun Laoghaire (130), followed by West Cork (167).
The provision of Ozempic and Saxenda to patients under the DPS cost the HSE €8.8 million between January 2023 and last September, with 3,168 individuals prescribed the drugs during the first eight months of 2025.
A spokesman for the HSE said processes are underway that will ultimately decide whether other weight-loss medications such as Mounjaro and Wegovy will be reimbursed under the free drugs schemes.
He noted that Ozempic lacks marketing authorisation for the indication of weight management, and is therefore funded by the HSE for the treatment of adults with insufficiently controlled diabetes.
