How much does Wegovy cost: the pen, the pill, insured, cash, Medicare and compounded, in one table

Wegovy has six prices, and every article that gives you one of them is answering for someone else. Here are all six, with the condition attached to each and the source it came from, and then the routes that move you from an expensive row to a cheap one.

The table

Sources: NovoCare's pharmacy page for the cash prices,¹ Wegovy.com for the card,² Humana's Medicare explainer for the Bridge.³

With commercial insurance: $25, with a cap

Novo's savings card takes a covered Wegovy prescription down to "as little as $25 per month", but the same page carries the limit: "subject to a maximum savings of $100/month".² So the card removes up to $100 from whatever your plan's copay is. A $50 copay becomes $25 (the floor); a $200 copay becomes $100. On a 3-month fill the cap scales to "$300 per 3-month prescription".⁵

Who can use the $25 card, and who cannot

"Government beneficiaries excluded",² which means Medicare, Medicaid, VA, DoD and TRICARE. Three kinds of plan that sound governmental are not: Novo's terms say "The Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program, Affordable Care (Health Exchange) Plans, and insurance provided through state employee plans are NOT federal or state government health care programs for purposes of this savings offer".⁵ A federal employee, a marketplace enrollee or a state worker whose plan covers Wegovy can use the card.

The accumulator row is the one people miss. Some employer plans run programmes in which card-paid amounts "do not count toward your deductibles or other patient out-of-pocket cost-sharing amounts (eg, accumulator adjustment programs)", and Novo's terms say that "If your insurer has implemented these types of programs, you will not be eligible for and agree not to use this savings program".⁵ Your plan documents or HR team will say whether yours does. The card also "cannot be combined with any other coupon, self-pay discount, certificate, voucher, or similar offer",⁵ so it is the card or the cash price, never both on one fill.

Whether your plan covers Wegovy for weight is plan-specific and not guessable from the insurer's name. Here is what eight insurers say in their own documents:

Two doors worth knowing about. Wegovy is separately approved "to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events ... in adults with established CV disease and either obesity or overweight",⁴ and a plan that excludes weight-loss drugs may still cover it under that indication if you have heart disease. And a denied prior authorisation on a plan that lists Wegovy is appealable; the appeal guide covers which kind of refusal you got. The full order of operations is in getting a GLP-1 covered.

On Medicare: $50 through the Bridge

Ordinary Part D "doesn’t cover weight loss medications when used only for weight loss".³ What changed on 1 July 2026 is the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, which gives "eligible Part D plan members access to Foundayo, Wegovy (injection or tablet), or Zepbound (KwikPen) weight loss medications for a $50 copayment for each 30-day supply", running "through Dec. 31, 2027".³ Novo's own page adds that it covers "all dose strengths of both Wegovy® pen and pill" and "is nationwide and available in all states and territories".² It sits outside the normal Part D flow, so your plan's drug lookup may not show it; ask for it by name.

Getting the $50 price takes three things, per Humana's summary:³

1. The right plan. You must "be actively enrolled in a standalone ... or Medicare Advantage (MA) coordinated care plan that offers prescription drug coverage (MAPD)". Original Medicare with no drug plan does not qualify.
2. The diagnosis. You must "be diagnosed with obesity by your doctor".
3. Prior authorisation. "First, your doctor must submit a prior authorization request and the prescription to a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) central processor." Novo's page says the same: "your doctor must submit a prior authorization request".²

The Bridge is for weight loss only: "If you need a GLP-1 drug for type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular risk reduction, you must process that through a standard Part D plan",³ at that plan's own copay. Does Medicare cover GLP-1s has the full mechanics.

Cash, the pen: $199, then $349

Novo's own pharmacy sells Wegovy direct. New patients "pay $199 for each month of 0.25 mg and 0.5 mg", the two starting doses, "for 2 monthly fills through December 31, 2026, then $349 per month for Wegovy 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1 mg, 1.7 mg or 2.4 mg and $399 per month for Wegovy HD (semaglutide) injection 7.2 mg".¹

"New patients" has a precise meaning: people "who have not redeemed a savings offer for Wegovy® injection in the past 365 days".⁵ So someone who stopped Wegovy more than a year ago and restarts at 0.25 mg gets the $199 months again; someone restarting after a shorter break pays $349 from the first box. Buying three boxes at once saves nothing: Novo's terms price a 3-month fill at exactly three times the monthly price.⁵

One useful feature of Novo's pen pricing: it is flat. 0.25 mg costs the same as 2.4 mg, so climbing the ladder costs nothing extra, which is not true of Zepbound's $299-to-$699 tiers ($449 on the KwikPen from 7.5 mg with on-time refills); Zepbound vs Wegovy compares the two bills. The HD pen at $399 is the one exception, and Wegovy 7.2 mg covers who it is for.

Cash, the pill: $149 to $299

The Wegovy tablet is priced by strength: "$149 for each month of 1.5 mg, $199 per month for 4 mg and $299 per month for 9 mg and 25 mg", with a month being one bottle of 30.¹ The 25 mg is the label's maintenance dose, so the price you settle at is likely $299, still $50 under the pen. The Wegovy pill covers the trade against the injection.

Paying cash when you have insurance

Novo's cash prices are open to insured people too, but a cash fill sits outside the plan. Its terms ask anyone using the self-pay offer to agree: "You will not attempt to count the cost of this medicine toward your insurance deductible or out-of-pocket limit."⁵ A year of cash Wegovy does nothing for a high deductible, so if you are close to your out-of-pocket maximum the plan route may cost less, even with a copay above $349.

Novo suggests asking the pharmacy three questions before you pay, and they are the right three:²

• "Whether my insurance covers the Wegovy® pill and what my monthly cost would be, before and after my deductible?" (ask the same about the pen)
• "Whether I qualify for the Wegovy® Savings Offer and what my price would be with it applied?"
• "Whether you can process this prescription using the Wegovy® self‑pay option and what the monthly price would be at my current dose?"

Take the lowest of the three answers. If it is still the cash price, the next section is the comparison worth making.

Compounded: from $69

The cheapest semaglutide is compounded, the same molecule from a licensed pharmacy without FDA approval of the finished product, sold through telehealth programs. Today's prices, verified on each seller's page:

The gap to Novo's $349 is $280 a month, $3,360 a year, and what it buys and what FDA specifically worries about is in is compounded semaglutide safe.

A year, by route

A pen year is 13 boxes, because Novo's box is a 28-day supply;⁵ a pill year is 12 bottles of 30.¹

The honest summary

Wegovy costs $25 if a commercial plan covers it, and $50 on Medicare through the Bridge. Paying Novo directly, it is $349 a month for the pen or $149 to $299 for the pill. The same molecule from a compounding pharmacy is $69 and up. Find out which row you are in before you price it. If you are in the cash rows, ask the two questions that move you: whether your plan has a weight benefit at all, and if you have heart disease, whether it covers Wegovy for that.