What the GLP-1 savings cards actually cap
Bottom line
If your plan covers the drug, the advertised $25 is real, up to a cap. The manufacturer limits what it contributes per fill, and on some cards per calendar year as well, and those ceilings decide whether the card lasts twelve months. If it does not cover the drug, the card is not the instrument you want at all. Every figure below is quoted from the sponsor's own terms with the date it was read, because the number in widest circulation for Zepbound — $1,950 a year — stopped being true in January.
Last updated 2026-09-11 — each sponsor's own published terms. Read and dated by Alex Seot.
How much does a GLP-1 savings card actually save you in a year?
A copay card does not set a price; it caps a contribution. Eli Lilly caps the Mounjaro Savings Card at $150 of savings per one-month fill and $1,950 a calendar year, across at most 13 fills; Eli Lilly caps the Trulicity Savings Card at $150 of savings per one-month fill and $1,950 a calendar year, across at most 13 fills; Eli Lilly caps the Zepbound savings card at $100 of savings per one-month fill and $1,300 a calendar year, across at most 13 fills; Novo Nordisk caps the Ozempic Savings Card at $100 of savings per one-month fill and publishes no annual ceiling; Novo Nordisk caps the Rybelsus Savings Offer at $100 of savings per one-month fill and publishes no annual ceiling; Novo Nordisk caps the Wegovy savings card at $100 of savings per one-month fill and publishes no annual ceiling. Larger fills are usually worse, not better. 4 three-month fills at Lilly's $300 cap cover 336 days and claim $1,200 of the $1,300 available; on an 84-day schedule only a year whose first fill lands in its first 29 days has room for another to claim the last $100. None of this applies without commercial insurance that already covers the drug, and none of it applies to Medicare or Medicaid at all. Each figure here was read from the manufacturer's own terms page, between 2026-09-05 and 2026-09-11.
The published ceilings
| Card | Per 1-month fill | Per year | Max fills | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mounjaro Savings Card | $150 | $1,950 | 13 | 2026-09-05 |
| Trulicity Savings Card | $150 | $1,950 | 13 | 2026-09-08 |
| Zepbound savings card | $100 | $1,300 | 13 | 2026-09-05 |
| Ozempic Savings Card | $100 | not published | not published | 2026-09-11 |
| Rybelsus Savings Offer | $100 | not published | not published | 2026-09-08 |
| Wegovy savings card | $100 | not published | not published | 2026-09-05 |
Where the published figures disagree
Each quote below was read on the date stated. Where a site is wrong it is named, with the reason — in both cases the figure was correct once.
Does the Zepbound savings card cap at $1,300 a year or $1,950?
What the manufacturer publishes
“Card savings are subject to a maximum monthly savings of up to $100 per 1-month prescription, $200 per 2-month prescription, or $300 per 3-month prescription fill and a separate maximum annual savings of up to $1,300 per calendar year. Card may be used for a maximum of up to 13 prescription fills per calendar year.”
Eli Lilly, Zepbound savings termsread 2026-08-26
- $1,950 per year — PrescriberPoint, in its own FAQ — three times on the page ranking fourth for this query. The same page's program block says $1,300. It contradicts itself in two places under one URL, and carries no date against either figure. sourceread 2026-08-26
- $1,300 a year, down from $1,950 — Honest Care, which states the change explicitly. It also records the monthly cap falling from $150 to $100. That is the explanation: $1,950 was the 2025 ceiling. sourceread 2026-08-26
Which is right
$1,300. The $1,950 figure is not invented — it is the 2025 ceiling, and Lilly cut it along with the monthly cap, from $150 a fill to $100. A page still publishing $1,950 is not lying; it is publishing a number it read once and never read again, which is the whole reason every figure on this site carries the date it was checked. $1,950 is still current for Mounjaro, which is where the confusion most likely starts.
Is the $299 Zepbound self-pay price the same product as the $25 card?
What the manufacturer publishes
“The $299 per month is for the Zepbound KwikPen or vial, not Zepbound single-dose Pen.”
Eli Lilly, Zepbound savings page footnoteread 2026-08-26
- $299 Savings Card, in the page title — PrescriberPoint. Its body does say the self-pay prices run $299 to $449 by dose, but the title puts one number on a page covering three different products. sourceread 2026-08-26
Which is right
No, and the difference is the device. $299 buys the KwikPen or the vial. The single-dose pen — the one most people mean by "Zepbound" — is the product the $25 card and the $499 non-covered rate apply to. Lilly's self-pay KwikPen ladder is $399 at 5 mg and $449 at 7.5 mg and above, so a headline of $299 describes the starting dose of one device and nobody's maintenance cost.
Savings card limits, answered
- How much can you actually save with a GLP-1 savings card?
- Not the advertised figure — the cap. Mounjaro Savings Card: $150 a one-month fill, $1,950 a year; Trulicity Savings Card: $150 a one-month fill, $1,950 a year; Zepbound savings card: $100 a one-month fill, $1,300 a year; Ozempic Savings Card: $100 a one-month fill, with no annual ceiling published; Rybelsus Savings Offer: $100 a one-month fill, with no annual ceiling published; Wegovy savings card: $100 a one-month fill, with no annual ceiling published. Each read from the sponsor's own page on the date shown here.
- Does the Zepbound savings card cap at $1,300 or $1,950 a year?
- $1,300. Lilly's own terms, read on 2026-09-05, state a maximum annual saving of up to $1,300 per calendar year over at most 13 fills. $1,950 was the 2025 ceiling and is still current for Mounjaro, which is the likeliest source of the mix-up. A page publishing $1,950 for Zepbound today is publishing a figure it read once and never re-read.
- Why does a 3-month fill save less overall?
- Because the annual ceiling is the binding one and the larger fill usually cannot reach it. At Lilly's $300 cap on a three-month Zepbound fill, 4 fills cover 336 days and claim $1,200 of the $1,300 available. On an 84-day schedule only a year whose first fill lands in its first 29 days has room for another, which claims the last $100; in every other year it goes unclaimed. One-month fills claim $100 13 times, which is $1,300 exactly. Fewer pharmacy trips, usually $100 less of the manufacturer's money.
- What is a month, for a savings card?
- 28 days, and up to 4 single-dose pens. That is why the fill limit is 13 rather than 12: thirteen 28-day months is 364 days. It also means a card allowing exactly 13 fills covers exactly one year with nothing spare, so a single early refill costs you a fill in December.
halfrx is not affiliated with any manufacturer and is paid nothing for listing these. Manufacturers state they may change these maximums at their own discretion, with or without notice, which is why each figure carries the date it was read. Information only, not medical or insurance advice.
Why the caps exist, and who they shut out
A cap is the maker's choice; the exclusion is not. These are the documents behind the second.
- Social Security Act §1927(d)(2), Office of the Law Revision Counsel — The statute itself, listing “agents when used for anorexia, weight loss, or weight gain” among the drugs a program may exclude.
- Manufacturer safeguards may not prevent copayment coupon use for Part D drugs, HHS Office of Inspector General — Why a manufacturer copay card cannot be used with a federal program, from the office that enforces it.
- Weight-loss drugs, Medicare.gov — Medicare's own page on what it does and does not cover for weight loss.