$12,000?
Yes, that’s a potential cost for a year on Wegovy or Mounjaro or Zepbound or Ozempic without insurance coverage. And for most people, health insurance won’t provide coverage unless your employer’s plan offers diet medication specifically. At present, very few do, essentially putting treatment out of reach for most.
That is, until the FDA declared a shortage on Wegovy and Ozempic’s active ingredient, semaglutide and for a while, on tirzepatide the active ingredient in Mounjaro.
Now, with companies like Hims & Hers offering 12 month semaglutide plans for $199/mo, you can essentially get a year of coverage for $2400, or two months of medication cost with the name brand GLP-1s. (I do however recommend trying the medication for at least one to three months before committing to a full year plan. Shorter plans cost more, but it makes sense to make sure you tolerate the medication before committing to such a large expense.)
One month semaglutide plans generally run $299 for provider authorization plus medication packages that are shipped to your door, regardless of your dosage. While this is clearly costly, it is important to note that your lifestyle can get somewhat to significantly less expensive while on the medication and for many, changes in your lifestyle may completely offset the treatment cost.
The first area where your spending will decrease is food outside of the house (and in the house too). For example, if you were spending $15/day eating out for lunch, you can probably – and easily – get by with a $2 yogurt and some granola and be both full and content with your meal. That will save you 2/3 of the treatment cost right there.
The same logic will apply to going out to dinner. You simply won’t be motivated to sit and eat a whole entrée, let alone appetizers and desserts.
Drinking, if that is an expense of yours, will go down. It simply isn’t that rewarding when on GLP-1s due to their impact on your dopamine system. So you can likely cut your bar tabs by three quarters too.
Ultimately, with most one month at a time semaglutide plans costing $299/mo, finding the money to cover treatment expenses is likely easier than it seems, since changes in your lifestyle will lower your discretionary spending on food and alcohol.
One caveat to this impacts people who largely eat unhealthy, pre-packaged foods and don’t buy fresh fruits and vegetables much as it is possible adding in healthy foods will increase grocery bills some. However, if those fresh foods are also replacing fast food, costs shouldn’t increase much.
Altogether, $9.99 a day for semaglutide is likely a more manageable expense than most realize as cost savings from positive lifestyle changes can meet or exceed the costs of enrolling in a medical weight loss program.
Please see our carefully vetted list of established, reliable GLP-1 diet programs to choose a good service provider for your treatment here.
