Does Kentucky Medicaid cover Ozempic or Wegovy or Rybelsus for weight loss?

Other indications only. Wegovy has prior authorization criteria for reducing major adverse cardiovascular events and for MASH. Drugs used for weight loss are excluded from coverage

Does Kentucky Medicaid cover Mounjaro or Zepbound for weight loss?

Other indications only. Zepbound has prior authorization criteria requiring a diagnosis of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea. Drugs used for weight loss are excluded from coverage

Does Kentucky Medicaid cover Saxenda or Victoza for weight loss?

Not covered. Drugs used for weight loss are excluded from coverage, and Saxenda is named nowhere on the preferred drug list

Medicaid coverage

Kentucky: what Medicaid covers

Kentucky excludes weight loss in a footnote to its prior authorization criteria: drugs used for anorexia, weight loss or weight gain are excluded from coverage. It then writes separate criteria for the two drugs that have another indication, Wegovy for cardiovascular risk and MASH, Zepbound for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea. The preferred drug list names none of the three brands and has no obesity class; its only GLP-1 class is diabetes agents.

Checked against the primary source August 28, 2026

What Medicaid in Kentucky covers, and the criteria that apply.
Drug	Position	Criteria
Semaglutide	Other indications only	Wegovy has prior authorization criteria for reducing major adverse cardiovascular events and for MASH. Drugs used for weight loss are excluded from coverage
Tirzepatide	Other indications only	Zepbound has prior authorization criteria requiring a diagnosis of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea. Drugs used for weight loss are excluded from coverage
Liraglutide	Not covered	Drugs used for weight loss are excluded from coverage, and Saxenda is named nowhere on the preferred drug list

Semaglutide Other indications only

Wegovy has prior authorization criteria for reducing major adverse cardiovascular events and for MASH. Drugs used for weight loss are excluded from coverage
Tirzepatide Other indications only

Zepbound has prior authorization criteria requiring a diagnosis of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea. Drugs used for weight loss are excluded from coverage
Liraglutide Not covered

Drugs used for weight loss are excluded from coverage, and Saxenda is named nowhere on the preferred drug list

If the answer is no. Around 45% of initial prior authorizations for these drugs are refused, and 35 to 45% of first-level appeals are overturned. A refusal is not the end of the process, and the cash-pay routes are priced on this site alongside it.

Sources

Every claim above is checked against the primary text, and the date is the day we last opened it.

1
Kentucky Medicaid Preferred Drug List (PDL), August 2026
Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Medicaid Services (MedImpact Kentucky Medicaid portal) Primary text read and checked Checked August 27, 2026
2
Kentucky Medicaid Prior Authorization Criteria, Version: August 2026
Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Medicaid Services (MedImpact Kentucky Medicaid portal) Primary text read and checked Checked August 27, 2026
3
Kentucky Medicaid Prior Authorization Criteria: WEGOVY (SEMAGLUTIDE), effective 1/3/2026
Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Medicaid Services (MedImpact Kentucky Medicaid portal) Primary text read and checked Checked August 27, 2026
4
Kentucky Medicaid Prior Authorization Criteria: ZEPBOUND (TIRZEPATIDE), April 2025
Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Medicaid Services (MedImpact Kentucky Medicaid portal) Primary text read and checked Checked August 27, 2026