What: Walmart will cover more than 250 prescription drugs at no cost for US employees in its medical plans from next year, including Ozempic and Mounjaro for Type 2 diabetes, while adding new health and family benefits.

Why it is important: Walmart is turning healthcare into a retention tool at the moment most employers treat it as a cost to contain, widening the gap between benefits leaders and laggards in frontline labour markets.

Walmart will cover more than 250 prescription drugs at no cost for employees enrolled in its medical plans next year, according to a memo from Chief People Officer Donna Morris. The list includes many generics, some insulin and inhalers, and medicines for migraines, dementia and cardiovascular conditions. Ozempic and Mounjaro will also be free for employees with Type 2 diabetes, subject to prior approval.

The move contrasts with a wider pullback by US employers facing rising medical costs, many of which have dropped GLP-1 coverage for weight loss. Marsh projects that employer healthcare costs in 2027 will rise at the fastest rate since 2003.

Other additions include second opinions at the Mayo Clinic or Cleveland Clinic for employees evaluated for or diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease or ALS, extending an existing cancer programme, and up to 12 weeks of paid leave for employees whose newborns are admitted to neonatal intensive care.

Walmart will raise employee premiums next year, though by less than in 2026. The retailer has spent the past decade reworking its reputation on pay and benefits for its 1.6 million US workers: starting wages have risen 93%, and benefits now cover tuition, fertility services and virtual care.

IADS Notes: Walmart's benefits push extends a workforce strategy already visible in its training effort: the retailer is giving role-specific AI certifications to its 2.1 million employees under a "people-led, tech powered" approach, with leadership presenting AI as augmenting rather than replacing jobs (CIO Dive, April 2026). Retention is the wider stake, as senior leaders increasingly see HR as a business enabler while retailers struggle to turn that ambition into talent management capable of keeping staff in a competitive labour market (BCG, March 2026). The GLP-1 coverage also places Walmart on both sides of a trend so far framed as a consumer story, with weight-loss drugs reshaping apparel sizing, mall traffic and wellness assortments (Financial Times, May 2026), and with Walmart itself relying on roughly 4,600 pharmacists to anchor its wellness and beauty offer in a US market worth more than $500 billion a year (US Chamber of Commerce, September 2026).

Walmart offers free prescription drugs to employees as other employers cut benefits