Which GLP-1 coupon can you actually use?
Every list of these programmes is organised by drug, which is the wrong axis for the person reading it. The first thing that decides whether a coupon is worth anything to you is not which drug it names — it is who pays for your health care. On that axis the 11 programmes here split three ways, and one of the three groups is closed to tens of millions of people who are never told so on the advertisement.
Why do so many GLP-1 coupons not work for people who try them?
Because two different instruments are sold under one word. Of the 11 programmes tracked here, 7 set a cash price and work for anyone holding a prescription — no plan, no approval, no eligibility test. 3 are copay cards, which only reduce what you owe after a commercial insurer has paid its share, and which exclude every government beneficiary by their own terms: Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and VA health care alike. That is a federal anti-kickback rule rather than a plan decision, so there is no appeal and no exception. One programme is built specifically for Medicare and reached through a prior authorisation instead. If you are on a federal programme, the headline figures on the copay cards describe a price you are not permitted to pay, and the cash-price group is the only one that applies to you.
Usable paying cash, with no insurance involved (7)
These set a price you pay directly. No plan has to approve anything, and no insurer is billed — which also means nothing here counts toward a deductible or an out-of-pocket maximum. Every one of them carries a condition, and the condition is usually a refill clock or an end date rather than an eligibility wall.
Contrave Home Delivery — Currax Pharmaceuticals
$99 a month with free shipping
Who it is for: Anyone with a prescription, cash-paying
The catch: Contrave delivers about 6.4% weight loss against roughly 21% for tirzepatide, so the low price buys a materially weaker result.
Terms read 2026-08-18.
Foundayo Self Pay Journey Program — Eli Lilly
$149 at the 0.8 mg starting dose, $299 at 14.5 mg and 17.2 mg
Who it is for: Self-pay through LillyDirect
The catch: The $299 holds only with a refill inside 45 days; otherwise those doses are $349.
Terms read 2026-08-19.
Zepbound Journey Program — Eli Lilly
$449 a month at 7.5 mg and above
Who it is for: Self-pay through LillyDirect
The catch: Only while you refill within 45 days. Lapse once and 10 mg and above cost $699 — and Lilly counts a month as 28 days, so a year is 13 fills.
Terms read 2026-08-19.
Ozempic and Wegovy cash price via GoodRx — GoodRx with Novo Nordisk
$199 a month for Ozempic or Wegovy pens
Who it is for: Cash-paying patients using GoodRx
The catch: Described as an introductory price. Using Ozempic for weight loss without type 2 diabetes is off-label.
Terms read 2026-08-19.
Wegovy first-fill price — Novo Nordisk
$199 a month for 0.25 mg and 0.5 mg
Who it is for: New to the Wegovy savings offer or to NovoCare Pharmacy, paying cash
The catch: Two monthly fills only, and the offer itself closes on 31 December 2026. After either limit the price is $349.
Ends 2026-12-31. Terms read 2026-08-19.
Wegovy pill titration price — Novo Nordisk
$149 a month
Who it is for: Cash-paying patients on the 1.5 mg or 4 mg oral doses
The catch: The 4 mg price ends 31 August 2026 and becomes $199. Novo publishes no price at all for the 25 mg maintenance dose.
Ends 2026-08-31. Terms read 2026-08-19.
Qsymia Engage — Vivus
$98 a month
Who it is for: Cash-paying patients
The catch: Qsymia is restricted under an FDA REMS requiring a negative pregnancy test before starting and monthly thereafter.
Terms read 2026-08-18.
Need commercial insurance — and exclude government beneficiaries (3)
These reduce a copay rather than set a price, so they do nothing unless a commercial plan already covers the drug. They also exclude anyone on a federal programme, and that exclusion is written into the card's own terms rather than into any plan's rules. Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and VA health care all fall inside it. There is nothing to appeal, because the restriction belongs to the manufacturer.
Mounjaro Savings Card — Eli Lilly
As little as $25 for a 1-, 2- or 3-month fill
Who it is for: Commercially insured with coverage for Mounjaro; barred for Medicare, Medicaid and any federal programme
The catch: Capped at $150 of savings a month and $1,950 a year. Without coverage the same card gives $499 a month, capped at $647 monthly and $8,411 a year.
Terms read 2026-08-26.
Zepbound savings card — Eli Lilly
As little as $25 for up to a 3-month prescription
Who it is for: Commercially insured with coverage for Zepbound
The catch: Requires your plan to cover Zepbound already. Not available to Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries.
Terms read 2026-08-26.
Wegovy savings card — Novo Nordisk
As little as $25 a month
Who it is for: Commercial insurance that covers Wegovy. Government beneficiaries excluded.
The catch: Savings are capped at $100 a month, so it only reaches $25 if your plan already covers most of the cost.
Terms read 2026-08-26.
Medicare-specific, and conditional (1)
Built for the beneficiaries the cards above shut out, and reached through a prior authorisation rather than by presenting a card at the counter. The condition is in the eligibility line, and it is doing the real work.
Medicare GLP-1 Bridge — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
$50 a month
Who it is for: Part D beneficiaries whose prescriber submits a prior authorisation attesting the drug treats obesity, and who meet one of the demonstration's BMI and clinical categories. Covers all formulations of Foundayo and Wegovy, and the KwikPen formulation of Zepbound only.
The catch: The $50 does not count toward your Part D deductible or the out-of-pocket maximum, because the demonstration sits outside Part D coverage rather than inside it. It is also time-limited: a demonstration under Section 402 authority, not a benefit.
Ends 2027-12-31. Terms read 2026-08-24.
If a card excluded you
The exclusion is about who pays for your care, so the next question is what your own programme covers. Each of these sets out what decides the answer and which document settles it.
Coupons, answered
- Why can't I use a Zepbound or Wegovy savings card on Medicare?
- Federal anti-kickback rules bar a manufacturer from subsidising a copay inside a federal health programme, so every card of that type excludes government beneficiaries by its own terms. It catches more people than the word Medicare suggests: Medicaid, TRICARE and VA health care sit inside the same exclusion. The cards are not refusing you because of your plan's formulary — they are refusing you because of who pays for your care, and no appeal reaches that. What remains is the 7 cash-priced routes above, which ask nothing about your coverage.
- Is a coupon the same as a savings card?
- In this category the words are used interchangeably and describe two opposite mechanics. A cash-price programme sets what you pay and works for anyone with a prescription. A copay card lowers what you owe after insurance has paid its share, and is worth close to nothing if your plan does not cover the drug at all. Both get advertised with a single large number on the front, and the number means different things.
- Does a $25 copay card mean the drug costs $25?
- Only when your insurance is already paying most of the bill. These cards cap what the manufacturer will contribute each month, so the headline figure is the floor the card can reach rather than the price it sets. If your plan excludes weight-loss drugs, the card applies its cap to a bill it barely dents. The per-card pages carry each cap in figures.
- Do any of these expire?
- Some do, and the dates are on each programme's page. An expiry matters more here than in most categories because these are medications taken for years — a price that ends in December is a price for part of one year, not the price of treatment. Every date is on the programme's own page.
Terms are read from each sponsor's own page on the date shown against the programme. Programmes change without notice; the date is there so you can tell how old the reading is. Information only, not medical advice.
Last updated 2026-08-26 — programme terms read