How to Get a GLP-1 Prescription

You can get a GLP-1 prescription three ways: from your own doctor, from a telehealth clinical team, or from either of those prescribers sending the prescription to a manufacturer pharmacy such as LillyDirect or NovoCare. LillyDirect and NovoCare fill GLP-1 prescriptions and ship them to you, but they do not write them, so you still need a prescriber. Which route fits depends mostly on how you pay. With commercial insurance that covers a GLP-1, use any prescriber plus the manufacturer's savings card. If you pay cash, a telehealth clinical team that prescribes is the usual fit. The bigger choices come after you pick a route: which GLP-1 you end up on, whether it is brand or compounded, and what a full year of that GLP-1 costs.

Which way of getting a GLP-1 prescription fits me?

Match the route to how you pay. This table shows who writes the GLP-1 prescription, who fills it and what you can expect to pay in each situation.

Every GLP-1 needs a prescription. Zepbound requires a valid prescription from a licensed healthcare provider, and LillyDirect asks your doctor to send the prescription to LillyDirect Pharmacy. LillyDirect works with four dispensing pharmacies: Amazon Pharmacy, Fuze Health, Gifthealth and Walmart Pharmacy. NovoCare Pharmacy delivers Wegovy the same way, once a prescriber sends the prescription.

If you have commercial insurance that covers Zepbound, the savings card is where the money is. Lilly's card excludes anyone on a government plan, including Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Part D, Medicare Advantage, TRICARE and VA.

If you're on Medicare Part D, ask your prescriber for the Zepbound KwikPen by name. The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge covers the KwikPen at $50 a month for eligible Part D enrollees. It does not cover the single-dose vial or the single-dose pen, so the format on your prescription decides whether you pay $50.

If you're paying cash, a telehealth clinical team writes the prescription and handles your dose steps and follow-ups. Our clinical team can prescribe semaglutide or tirzepatide if it fits your goal.

Does getting a GLP-1 prescription online work?

Yes, in the studies we have. In a 24-week study of a telehealth program that prescribed semaglutide and tirzepatide, 180 people (91% women, average age 44) lost 7.2% of their body weight by week 12 and 12.3% by week 24.

That program did more than write prescriptions. People also got a virtual behavior program, a Bluetooth scale and a blood pressure cuff. Their average blood pressure fell from 131.0/83.8 to 120.0/78.2, and their eating habits, diet quality and activity all improved.

The study had no in-person comparison group. It shows online GLP-1 care can produce real results. It does not show online care beats seeing your own doctor. So pick a program that checks in, adjusts your dose and helps you eat well, not one that only mails you a vial.

How much does a GLP-1 cost without insurance?

Zepbound through LillyDirect runs $299 to $699 per fill depending on your dose and how fast you refill. Wegovy through NovoCare runs $149 to $399 a month depending on the form and dose. Compounded tirzepatide from telehealth programs sits around $273 a month, before any membership fee.

Lilly counts a month as 28 days, so a year of weekly Zepbound doses is 13 fills. At $449 a fill, a year of Zepbound comes to $5,837, and needles are extra.

Compounded tirzepatide is not the same product as Zepbound, so the lower price buys you a different product, not a discount on the brand. And if a telehealth program charges a membership, add the membership to the medication price before you compare it with anything else.

Should I ask for tirzepatide or semaglutide?

For weight loss, tirzepatide beat semaglutide in a head-to-head trial. In 751 adults with obesity but no type 2 diabetes, people on tirzepatide lost 20.2% of their body weight on average at 72 weeks, compared with 13.7% on semaglutide. They also lost 18.4 cm from their waist, compared with 13.0 cm. Eli Lilly, which makes tirzepatide, funded the trial.

Both drugs mostly cause stomach side effects, mainly while the dose is going up, and most of those side effects were mild to moderate.

Zepbound starts at 2.5 mg once a week. Your prescriber may raise it in 2.5 mg steps after at least 4 weeks on each dose. Don't use Zepbound with any other tirzepatide product or any other GLP-1 medicine.

One woman on Zepbound couldn't get past the side effects, even at the starting dose. She wrote: "I started at the lowest dose (2.5 mg), and never increased, due to side effects." She still lost weight at that dose: "The good in all this, I lost 23 lbs." Her advice: "Listen to your body while it whispers, before it starts to yell." That's why you want a clinical team that checks in and adjusts your dose, so you have someone to tell when your body starts whispering.

What should I ask a GLP-1 telehealth program before I sign up?

• Is this the brand drug or a compounded version? The FDA says compounded drugs aren't FDA-approved and aren't reviewed for safety, effectiveness or quality before they're sold. The FDA has also received reports of dosing errors with compounded GLP-1s.
• If it's compounded, which pharmacy makes it? Researchers looked at 81,078 GLP-1 reports in the FDA's adverse event reporting system from 2018 to 2024, and 707 involved compounded products. They found compounded GLP-1s "may be associated" with higher odds of preparation errors, contamination and hospitalization than brand products. Reports like these show a pattern worth checking. They don't prove the compounded drug caused the problem.
• What's the full 12-month cost at my maintenance dose, including membership? When one review compared three large platforms, only one published enough pricing to work out a true twelve-month cost.
• Does a "month" mean 28 days or a calendar month? One platform bills in four-week blocks, which makes 13 billing periods a year instead of 12.
• How often does my clinical team check in, and who adjusts my dose if side effects hit?

If you want your jeans to fit again and you're paying for it yourself, take the quiz. It starts a plan with our clinical team, who will review whether semaglutide or tirzepatide fits your goal, your health and your budget.