GLP-1 savings cards: what “as little as $25” means for your copay
With insurance that covers the drug, a $150 copay becomes $50 with the Wegovy or Zepbound card and $25 with the Mounjaro card, because each card caps what it saves.
Manufacturer savings cards are the most advertised and least understood GLP-1 price. Every card says “pay as little as $25”, and every card’s terms then cap the saving. Novo Nordisk’s card for Wegovy, Ozempic and their tablets saves at most $100 a month and publishes no yearly cap. Lilly’s cards add a yearly cap and a fill limit: $150 a month and $1,950 a year for Mounjaro and Trulicity, $100 and $1,300 for the Zepbound single-dose pen, $100 and $1,000 for Foundayo, all ending on December 31, 2026 under their current terms. So a $150 copay costs $600 over twelve months with the Wegovy card, $300 with the Mounjaro card and $800 with the Foundayo card, whose yearly cap binds. The cards only work when your plan covers the drug, and people on Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE or VA coverage cannot use any of them.
Your copay after the maker’s savings card
You pay a month
$50
| Saving a month | $100 |
| Saving over 12 months | $1,200 |
| You pay over 12 months | $600 |
Novo Nordisk publishes no yearly cap. Only when your private plan covers the drug; never with Medicare or Medicaid. Estimate only.
Prices read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and data
The five cards side by side
| Card | Pay at least | Saves at most a month | Yearly cap | Fills a year | Savings end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wegovy, Ozempic and their tablets | $25 | $100 | none published | none published | no date published |
| Zepbound single-dose pen | $25 | $100 | $1,300 | 13 | December 31, 2026 |
| Mounjaro | $25 | $150 | $1,950 | 13 | December 31, 2026 |
| Foundayo | $25 | $100 | $1,000 | 10 | December 31, 2026 |
| Trulicity | $25 | $150 | $1,950 | 13 | December 31, 2026 |
The Lilly yearly caps are not arbitrary: $1,950 is thirteen 28-day fills at $150, $1,300 is thirteen at $100. Over a year of monthly fills they rarely bind. Foundayo is different: ten fills of 30 days at most $100, so twelve monthly fills hit the $1,000 cap and the last two are paid at your full copay.
The arithmetic of a capped card
| Your plan copay | Wegovy or Ozempic card, a month | Mounjaro or Trulicity card, a month | Foundayo card, 12 months | Without a card, 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $25 | $25 | $25 | $300 | $300 |
| $50 | $25 | $25 | $350 | $600 |
| $100 | $25 | $25 | $450 | $1,200 |
| $150 | $50 | $25 | $800 | $1,800 |
| $250 | $150 | $100 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| $400 | $300 | $250 | $3,800 | $4,800 |
Below the floor plus the monthly maximum, the card brings you to $25: up to a $125 copay with a $100 card, up to $175 with a $150 card. Above that it saves a flat amount and you pay the rest. For a plan that applies coinsurance on a high price, the remainder can exceed the self-pay price, and paying cash may then cost less, at the expense of the deductible.
Which form of Zepbound the card covers
Lilly’s copay card for insured patients applies to the Zepbound single-dose pen only. The KwikPen has its own card, but only when your plan does not cover the KwikPen, and it simply brings the price to the self-pay level: $299 for 2.5 mg, $399 for 5 mg, $449 for the higher doses refilled within 45 days. Vials are outside both cards. For Mounjaro, the card covers the single-dose pen; with a commercial plan that excludes Mounjaro, Lilly’s terms let you pay as low as $499 a month, the same as its self-pay price.
What “covered” means
The card reduces a copay; it does not create coverage. Many employer plans exclude anti-obesity drugs or require prior authorization and step therapy. If the claim is denied, the card cannot be applied and the pharmacy will quote either the list price or, if asked, the self-pay program price. Check coverage first: the NovoCare and LillyDirect pages offer coverage checks, and your plan’s drug list says whether Wegovy, Zepbound or Foundayo is on it.
Why government programs are excluded
Each card’s terms exclude anyone enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, the VA or another government program. Those beneficiaries have their own protections: the $2,100 Part D cap in 2026, Extra Help, and the $50 Medicare GLP-1 Bridge for weight management.
Deductibles, coinsurance and the card
A savings card applies to what the pharmacy asks you to pay after your plan has processed the claim. Early in a plan year, before the deductible is met, that can be the plan’s full negotiated price, several hundred dollars; the card then saves its monthly maximum and you pay the rest. As the deductible is met and a flat copay takes over, the card covers more of the bill, down to the $25 floor. Both makers reserve the right to cut the saving if your plan runs an accumulator, maximizer or alternate funding program, which your plan documents must disclose.
That is why the same person can pay very different amounts in January and in June. The calculator’s private-insurance option asks for the copay you actually see at the pharmacy and applies the right card to it, with its yearly cap. For 2027 it applies no Lilly card, because the current terms end on December 31, 2026 and no 2027 terms are published.
A worked example
Take a plan that covers Mounjaro with a $250 copay. With the card, each fill costs $100, $1,200 over twelve months, against $5,988 paid in cash. The same $250 copay on Wegovy, whose card saves $100, costs $150 a fill, or $1,800 a year, against $4,188 in cash.