Alight offers employers a fixed-budget alternative to dropping GLP-1 coverage

How far a cap goes depends on what the drug costs. Eli Lilly's Employer Connect platform, which sits among the direct-to-employer routes that operate outside a standard pharmacy benefit manager contract, lists Zepbound at $449 a month ^[10]. The IRS limits what an employer can newly make available through an excepted benefit HRA to $2,200 per employee for plan years starting in 2026 ^[9]. Divided by $449, that is about 4.9 months of one drug ^[14]. A full year at that price is $5,388, so the cap covers roughly 41 percent of it ^[15]. The $2,200 limit applies only if Alight built its account as an excepted benefit HRA, and the report advises HR teams to confirm the structure with Alight before comparing it with alternatives ^[11].

The design choice is a trade between budget size and HSA compatibility. An integrated HRA is linked to the employer's group health plan and carries no contribution cap set by the IRS, which lets employers offer higher limits, though pairing it with an HSA-eligible HDHP takes careful structuring ^[7]. An excepted benefit HRA is separate from the group plan. The risk there is that if the employer reimburses costs before an employee has met the deductible, the payment can be treated as first-dollar coverage, and the employee can lose HSA eligibility for the year ^[8]. Plans often respond by limiting reimbursement to preventive use or waiting until the minimum HDHP deductible is met ^[8]. Alight says its account can run alongside HSA and HDHP designs in line with IRS rules, and employers can use it on its own or inside a wider weight management approach ^[16].

Karen Frost, senior vice president and health and navigation solution leader at Alight, described the pitch in terms of demand. "Employers are looking for practical ways to respond to growing demand for GLP-1 medications while balancing access, affordability and cost management," Frost said ^[12]. The reporting covers one launch by one vendor. It does not show whether other benefits administrators sell comparable accounts.

Timing separates the two sides of the decision. The reporting places employer decisions on coverage ahead of open enrollment, with the effects reaching employees in the coming weeks ^[13]. Under a fixed budget, the employer's cost is settled at that point. The employee's side arrives later. The 2027 limit is not in the reporting, so take the 2026 figure as a stand-in: on a January 1 plan year, an employee on Zepbound at today's listed price reaches $2,200 in late May ^[14].