Cost & cover
Which price is on the care page?
Start by asking what the amount pays for. A quote for medicine may omit different costs from a quote for the care plan.
List price and cash price
List price is the maker’s published price. Self-pay is the price offered when you pay outside insurance.
At the September 26, 2026 check, maker self-pay offers for the branded GLP-1 medicines mostly ran from about $149 to $499 per month.
GLP-1 is the hormone term used for medicines that affect appetite and blood sugar. The price varies with the medicine, form, prescribed amount, and offer terms.
Some offers required a refill within a set time to keep the lower price. A late refill could cost more.
Some offers counted 28 days of medicine as a month. Others counted a box of injection devices or a bottle of 30 tablets.
Ask how many days of your prescribed medicine the quoted price buys.
A small headline may be an opening offer
A medicine pen is a device that holds medicine for an injection. Strength is the amount of medicine in the prescribed dose. The label shows it in mg, meaning milligrams.
At the September 26, 2026 check, the semaglutide (Ozempic) injection offer priced each of the first two monthly fills at $199. It was for new self-pay patients in the US aged 18 or older, at the 0.25 mg or 0.5 mg strengths.
After those first two fills, the monthly price was $349 for the 0.25 mg strength, the 0.5 mg strength, or the 1 mg strength. It was $499 at the 2 mg strength.
The opening offer was due to end on December 31, 2026. These amounts describe the price offer; they are not directions for choosing or taking a dose.
An insured person choosing this self-pay offer could not have insurance reimburse the cost or apply it to their deductible. The deductible is what you pay yourself before payments from the plan begin.
These are medicine prices, not a quote for a full course of care. Ask which price applies after the opening period.
Cards and insurance are different paths
A discount card, a maker’s savings card, and an insured payment can each produce a different price.
For the branded GLP-1 savings cards checked on September 26, 2026, commercial-insurance eligibility was required and government-plan members were excluded.
Commercial insurance means a workplace or private plan. People on Medicare cannot use those savings cards. They can often use a maker’s self-pay offer if they meet that offer’s terms.
Ask whether Medicare members can use the exact cash offer you are considering.
Ask for the whole bill
Ask for medicine, visits, tests, follow-up, and any membership as separate amounts. Then ask for the total over the same span of time.
Write down when the quote ends and how to cancel any recurring fee.