Medicare Made Weight-Loss Drugs $50 A Month—Now Amazon, CVS And Walmart Race To Fill Prescriptions

Topline Amazon on Thursday announced its pharmacy would distribute popular GLP-1 weight-loss drugs to eligible Medicare patients for $50 a month—a sweeping shift that has slashed the cost of these medications by as much as 97% from their peak price, which had prevented access for millions of Americans.

Amazon Pharmacy will now dispense Wegovy, Zepbound KwikPen and Foundayo—Eli Lilly’s new daily weight-loss pill—to qualifying Medicare patients for $50 each month under the federal Medicare GLP-1 Bridge Program, which runs through Dec. 31, 2027.

That marks a steep price reduction for the medications, which first cost between $1,200 and $1,500 a month.

The price reductions will save customers about $300 million, Amazon said.

Amazon said it would automate the entire enrollment process — including eligibility verification, prior authorization, and billing—after a prescription is submitted electronically, and will offer same-day delivery across more than 3,100 U.S. cities without a Prime membership.

CVS Health on Wednesday announced an overhaul to its GLP-1 offerings, cutting its digital weight-loss appointments to $29—which the firm claimed to be the cheapest on the market—and partnering with Eli Lilly to offer transparent pricing for Zepbound and Foundayo.

Since April, Walmart has announced plans to expand GLP-1 access through its pharmacies and said its pharmacists would be able to support newly eligible Medicare beneficiaries.

More than 66 million. That’s how many people in the U.S. get their health coverage from Medicare, according to the insurance program. About 72% of adults age 20 and older are overweight or obese, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data as of August 2023.

The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge Program, which launched July 1, covers weight-loss drug costs for patients with obesity. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services absorbs the financial risks for the first 18 months rather than passing it on to private insurers. Expanding access to weight-loss drugs, like Wegovy, Zepbound and Foundayo, comes as Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk still charge between $199 and $499 a month for patients outside the Medicare program. Amazon has pushed itself into the GLP-1 market, announcing in April a GLP-1 management program that featured insured pricing starting at $25 a month.