Plan the costs
There is no single price to compare
The number in an ad may be a first fill, a membership, a medicine-only price or a best-case insurance amount. Put like beside like.
Five price labels need five definitions
A brand-name medicine can carry five kinds of price. Ask which kind you are being quoted before comparing it with another number.
These are not the same medicine, seller or kind of price, so they are not a personal estimate. On September 26, 2026, the lowest checked figure was $25 a month on a manufacturer copay card—a discount for some eligible people with private insurance. The highest was about $1,390 for Mounjaro in one discount-card check at one pharmacy in ZIP code 85298.
- List price: the manufacturer’s published price before discounts. It is not necessarily what you pay.
- Manufacturer cash price: the drug maker’s offer for someone paying without insurance.
- Discount-card price: a price offered through a savings card and checked at a particular pharmacy.
- Copay-card price: a manufacturer discount for eligible people with private insurance.
- Government-program price: a price under a named program, such as the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, with that program’s own rules.
Add what the headline leaves out
Write down the visit fee, membership, medicine, lab work, supplies, shipping and follow-up. Mark which parts repeat.
Then ask what the same plan costs after an opening offer ends. A low first month is not the same as a low ongoing plan.
- Visit or membership
- Medicine
- Lab work
- Supplies and shipping
- Follow-up
- Price after the opening offer
Next in the pathway
Coverage follows the reason for use
The same ingredient can be handled differently for different conditions.