Savings programmes for Zepbound, Wegovy and Foundayo: what they actually cover

I spent an afternoon reading the actual savings pages for Zepbound, Wegovy and Foundayo — not the summaries, the pages with the terms and conditions at the bottom. The headline numbers are real. The conditions attached to them are where most people get caught out.

Every figure below is quoted from the manufacturer’s own page, and I read all three on 4 September 2026. That date matters more than usual here. These programmes are marketing offers, not entitlements, and the pages say so in plain language: Lilly “reserves the right to modify or cancel this offer at any time”, and Novo Nordisk uses almost identical wording.

So treat this as a snapshot with a date stamp on it, and check the live page before you plan a budget around any of it.

Zepbound: two different offers depending on your insurance

Lilly splits Zepbound (tirzepatide) savings into three situations, and which one applies to you depends entirely on what your insurance does.

If you have commercial insurance that covers Zepbound, the savings card lets eligible patients “pay as little as $25 for a 1-month, 2-month, or 3-month prescription fill of Zepbound single-dose pen”. The card does the heavy lifting only up to a point: savings are capped at “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”, with a limit of “up to 13 prescription fills per calendar year”.

If you have commercial insurance that does not cover Zepbound, the same card works differently — the page says eligible patients pay “as low as $499 for your 1-month prescription fill of Zepbound single-dose pen”.

And if you are paying entirely out of pocket, the vial and KwikPen route is priced separately: “starting at $299” for a one-month prescription of the KwikPen or four vials. That price depends on staying on schedule. The terms say you must “complete your refill purchase of the Zepbound single-patient-use KwikPen within 45 days of the delivery/received date of your previous” prescription. Miss the window and regular pricing applies, which the page lists as “$299 for 2.5 mg, $399 for 5 mg, $499 for 7.5 mg, $699 for 10 mg, $699 for 12.5 mg, and $699 for 15 mg”. The card itself carries an end date: “Card expires and savings end on 12/31/2026.”

Wegovy: one offer, two very different products

Wegovy (semaglutide) now comes as an injection pen and as a daily tablet, and Novo Nordisk prices them separately while running one savings offer across both.

With commercial insurance, the offer is stated as “Pay as little as $25, subject to a maximum savings of $100/month”. The footnote defines a month as “1 box of 4 pens of Wegovy and 1 bottle of 30 tablets of Wegovy” — worth reading, because that is what the $100 ceiling is measured against.

Without insurance, NovoCare Pharmacy self-pay pricing splits by form. For the tablets: “Patients pay $149 for each month of 1.5 mg and 4 mg. 4 mg offer only available until August 31, 2026, then $199 per month for 4 mg.” For the pen: patients new to the offer “pay $199 for each month of 0.25 mg and 0.5 mg. Offer 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 7.2 mg.”

Read that carefully and a pattern shows up across both manufacturers: the number in the big font is usually the starting dose, and the price moves as the dose moves. If you are budgeting, budget for the dose you expect to settle on, not the one you begin with. Our page on semaglutide dosing lays out that escalation.

Foundayo: priced dose by dose, with a refill clock

Foundayo (orforglipron) is the newest of the three, and its LillyDirect page prices each dose individually. On 4 September 2026 the page listed self-pay prices “starting at” $149/month for the 0.8 mg and 2.5 mg doses, $199/month for 5.5 mg, and $299/month for the 9 mg, 14.5 mg and 17.2 mg doses.

Two footnotes change how those numbers behave. The first: “Prices for the 2.5 mg and 5.5 mg dose are temporarily reduced through December 31, 2026.” The second: “For 14.5 mg and 17.2 mg doses, prices reflect monthly cost with Foundayo Self-Pay Journey Program. Regular prices will apply if prescription is not refilled within 45 days.” The regular price for those doses is $349 a month.

With coverage, the page is brief: “If you are eligible and commercially insured with coverage for Foundayo, you could pay as low as $25 a month.” The small print underneath is the part to notice — “Governmental beneficiaries excluded” and “NOT INSURANCE”.

The exclusion that catches the most people

If you are on government insurance, the savings cards are closed to you. Lilly’s eligibility terms spell it out: to use the card, “You are not enrolled in any state, federal, or government funded healthcare program, including, without limitation, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Part D, Medicare Advantage, Medigap, DoD, VA, TRICARE/CHAMPUS, or any state prescription drug assistance program”. The same page adds that you must be “a resident of the United States or Puerto Rico” and “18 years of age or older”. Novo Nordisk states it in three words: “Government beneficiaries excluded.”

That exclusion is not a technicality. It is why a Medicare beneficiary and a commercially insured neighbour can be prescribed the same drug and face wildly different bills.

There is now a separate route for Medicare Part D. Novo Nordisk describes it as “a temporary federal program that gives eligible Medicare Part D beneficiaries access to all dose strengths of both Wegovy pen and pill for just $50 per month between July 1, 2026, and December 31, 2027”, and adds that “your doctor must submit a prior authorization request”. Lilly points to the same programme, listing “Zepbound coverage through the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge for no more than $50/month” and noting it is “Not a guarantee of coverage” and that eligibility is “based on Medicare GLP-1 Bridge Clinical Criteria”. The Foundayo page links to the same programme for eligible Part D patients.

The older drugs work differently: no card, but generics

The four older approved drugs are not sold through this kind of programme, because they do not need to be — most have generic versions, and the prices are an order of magnitude lower to begin with. These are the ranges this site publishes:

Qsymia (phentermine/topiramate) runs about $30–$80 a month as a generic, against roughly $200–$400 a month for the brand. Orlistat splits by strength — prescription Xenical at roughly $200–$400 a month, and over-the-counter Alli 60 mg at roughly $40–$60. Contrave (naltrexone/bupropion) sits at roughly $100–$400 a month for the brand, with a generic available in some markets. Saxenda (liraglutide) is the outlier: roughly $1,000–$1,349 a month for the brand, with generic liraglutide typically $135–$200 less.

For the generics, the lever is not a manufacturer card — it is pharmacy shopping, discount cards and your plan’s generic tier. That is a completely different exercise from enrolling in a programme, and it tends to be less volatile month to month.

What changes, and how to check it yourself

Of the figures above, several carry their own expiry — and one has already lapsed: the Wegovy 4 mg tablet offer ran “only available until August 31, 2026” and the price moved to $199 a month on 1 September. Three more are scheduled to change inside a year: the Wegovy pen introductory price runs “through December 31, 2026”, Foundayo’s reduced 2.5 mg and 5.5 mg prices run “through December 31, 2026”, and the Zepbound card “expires and savings end on 12/31/2026”.

So the practical routine is short. Open the manufacturer page for the specific product and the specific dose you have been prescribed. Find the footnote — on all three sites, the meaningful conditions are in the small text under the price, not in the headline. Check whether your insurance is commercial or government funded, because that single fact decides which column you are in. Then ask the pharmacy to run it, since the card and the plan interact at the counter in ways the website cannot predict.

If you want to see how the resulting numbers compare across every option, the cost finder and the comparison page lay them side by side. And if coverage is the sticking point, the eligibility page covers what plans typically ask for before they approve.