GLP-1 Frequently Asked Questions

For an FDA-approved product, buying direct from the manufacturer is now cheapest: NovoCare Pharmacy lists the Wegovy pill from $149/month and the injection pen from $199, and LillyDirect lists Zepbound from $299 at the starting dose. Neither charges a membership fee, but both require you to have your own prescriber. Compounded semaglutide advertises from about $99/month, though most providers add a membership that brings the real total closer to $178.

Because most providers split the bill in two and advertise only one half. A "$99/month" medication price often sits alongside a separate membership fee, and some companies do not publish the membership at all. When comparing providers, always add both numbers together — and if a company will not tell you one of them, treat that as information.

Prescription medication is generally an eligible expense, and telehealth visit fees commonly are too. Because the funds are pre-tax, using them effectively discounts your cost by your marginal tax rate — often 20 to 35 percent. Eden states explicitly that it accepts HSA and FSA cards; most other providers are silent on it, so ask. Confirm eligibility with your plan administrator rather than the telehealth company.

Sometimes, and much less often than for type 2 diabetes. Many commercial plans exclude weight-management medication as a category, and those that cover it usually require prior authorisation — PlushCare states this typically takes 7 to 14 business days. If your plan does cover it, your copay will beat every cash price we have found, so test your coverage before paying for anything.

The standard clinical criteria are a BMI of 30 or above, or a BMI of 27 or above with at least one weight-related condition such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, or sleep apnea. Medicare applies a stricter threshold, listing a BMI of 35 or higher among its requirements. A clinician makes the final determination based on your full health history.

Yes, and this surprises people. LifeMD states that any form of government healthcare coverage — Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, or Medicare Supplement plans, whether primary or secondary — makes you ineligible for its GLP-1 programs. Holding the coverage disqualifies you even if you never intend to use it. This is a commercial restriction, not a clinical one.

Providers commonly exclude people under 18, people who are pregnant, people with an active eating disorder, and people who are underweight. Beyond that, prescribers screen for clinical contraindications including personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma and multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, as well as history of pancreatitis and gallbladder disease. This is a conversation for a clinician, not a website.

No. Wegovy is an FDA-approved product evaluated for safety, effectiveness, and quality. A compounded preparation has not been through that evaluation. The active molecule may be the same, but potency, purity, and batch-to-batch consistency are exactly what approval verifies — and that verification is what is missing.

Compounding continues, but not under the shortage exemption that enabled it at scale. FDA states that tirzepatide and semaglutide do not currently appear on its drug shortage list or the 503B bulks list, and the enforcement discretion tied to shortage status ended in 2025. What remains operates under section 503A, for an individual patient based on a prescription, subject to restrictions on copying commercially available drugs.

Much less than it was, and this is the single most out-of-date belief in this market. An all-in compounded program now runs about $178/month for semaglutide, against $199 for FDA-approved Wegovy through NovoCare or $149 for the pill. For tirzepatide the gap is roughly $21 at starting doses. If you chose compounded on price and have not rechecked since manufacturer self-pay programs launched, run the numbers again.

It depends on whether you have coverage and whether you already have a prescriber. For cash-pay patients with a doctor, manufacturer pharmacies are cheapest. For a single company handling everything, Mochi Health is the cheapest program whose full cost you can verify upfront. For insured patients, Found and PlushCare are the two built around actually extracting coverage. For specialist clinical care, Form Health has the strongest credentials.

It is a sales decision — pricing revealed inside a signup funnel is harder to comparison-shop. Henry Meds and Form Health publish no pricing at all, and Eden advertises medication "from $99/mo plus Eden Membership" without stating what the membership costs. We rank on total cost you can calculate, so this counts against them.

Most compounded-focused platforms are asynchronous — a clinician reviews your intake without speaking to you. PlushCare offers same-day video appointments with a physician, Henry Meds offers video calls in most states, and Form Health is built around frequent video visits. Whether that matters is a personal judgement, but speaking to a clinician before starting a weekly injectable is a reasonable thing to want.

Refrigerated between 36°F and 46°F (2°C to 8°C) before first use. Room-temperature allowances vary by product, so follow the instructions supplied with your specific medication rather than a general rule. Never freeze it. Oral semaglutide is handled differently and does not require refrigeration.

Do not inject it, and do not throw it away. Photograph the package, coolant packs, and any temperature indicator, note the delivery time, refrigerate it, and contact your provider or pharmacy immediately. They determine whether it is usable and arrange a replacement — that call is theirs, not yours.

Gastrointestinal effects dominate: nausea, diarrhea, constipation, and vomiting are the most commonly reported in clinical trials, and they are usually most pronounced during dose increases. Less common but more serious risks include pancreatitis and gallbladder problems. Individual responses vary significantly.

In clinical trials, tirzepatide produced greater average weight loss than semaglutide, but averages are not individuals — the two have different side effect profiles, different costs, and different coverage. Which suits you is a clinical decision for your prescriber, and it should drive your choice of provider rather than the reverse.