Method and data

Every figure on this site comes from a public source that we read with a script, date and link. Nothing is typed in by hand except the rules that no data file publishes, and those are written once, in a parameter file, with the page they come from. This page lists each source, how often it is read, how the calculator combines them, and what it cannot do.

The sources and when we read them

• Self-pay prices. TrumpRx.gov publishes, on each drug page, a structured list of strengths with the TrumpRx price and the “original price”, which TrumpRx defines as the wholesale acquisition cost. We read the pages of the 11 drugs priced here, and every price is cross-checked against the manufacturer’s own pricing page (NovoCare Pharmacy, LillyDirect). Last read: October 16, 2026.
• The full TrumpRx catalogue, 844 listings, read page by page from the site map. Last read: October 16, 2026.
• Pharmacy acquisition cost. CMS’s NADAC 2026 weekly file, per unit, converted to a month with the quantities the makers use (one Ozempic pen, four Wegovy pens, 30 tablets…). File used: October 14, 2026.
• Medicare negotiated prices. The CMS file of selected drugs and maximum fair prices, dated September 21, 2026. A line whose end date precedes its start date is treated as void.
• Part D parameters: deductible $615 and cap $2,100 in 2026, $700 and $2,400 in 2027, 25% coinsurance, Extra Help copays, from Table V-2 of the CMS 2027 Rate Announcement.
• Medicare GLP-1 Bridge: $50 copay, dates, drugs, BMI thresholds, from the CMS provider FAQ.
• Medicaid: prescriptions and amounts reimbursed by state from CMS’s State Drug Utilization Data, quarters 2025Q1 to 2026Q1; copay ceilings from 42 CFR 447.53.
• Drug facts (indications, dose escalation): the FDA prescribing information of each product, linked on its page.

Automatic refresh

A scheduled job reruns the download script every week, rebuilds the site, replays the tests and publishes only if everything passes. If a source cannot be read, the job stops and the site keeps the last valid figures with their dates. Rules that no feed carries (Part D parameters, Bridge terms, maker offers, savings card terms and their end dates) are checked by hand each month.

How the calculator computes “what you pay”

• No insurance: the self-pay price of the dose. A new patient on Ozempic or Wegovy 0.25 or 0.5 mg pays the starter price for the first two fills of 2026; a Lilly refill after 45 days pays the regular price. For 2027, offers announced to end on December 31, 2026 are removed. Drugs without a self-pay price show the pharmacy cost as a floor.
• Private insurance: your copay, minus the maker’s savings card when one applies, with the floor, monthly maximum, yearly cap and fill limit its terms publish: Novo Nordisk (Wegovy, Ozempic and their tablets), Lilly (Zepbound single-dose pen, Mounjaro, Foundayo, Trulicity). Terms read on October 16, 2026. Lilly’s cards end on December 31, 2026, so none is applied for 2027.
• Medicare Part D: the standard benefit applied to twelve months of the drug: deductible, then 25% of the cost until the cap. The cost basis is the negotiated price of the year when one exists, otherwise the list price published by TrumpRx, otherwise the NADAC cost. With Extra Help, the CMS maximum copay per brand prescription.
• Medicare for weight loss: $50 a month for Bridge drugs; otherwise the self-pay price, since Part D excludes the use.
• Medicaid: the copay you enter, $4 by default, the preferred-drug maximum of the FY 2013 table, the latest CMS publishes; 42 CFR 447.53 indexes it each October, but CMS publishes no indexed amount and states set their own copays at or below it.

Checks

Automated tests replay reference cases worked out by hand from the published figures: the Part D share at the cap and below it, the month the cap is reached, the payment plan, the savings cards and their yearly caps, starter and late-refill prices, the Bridge rules and the monthly conversion of NADAC. The build fails if one deviates.

Limits

• Real plans use tiers, copays and their own negotiated prices; the standard benefit is the upper bound of what Part D can charge you.
• Retail cash prices outside the makers’ programs are not published; NADAC is a floor, not a quote.
• Medicaid prescription counts show that a state pays for a drug, not for which use; state coverage rules are confirmed by the state agency.
• Compounded drugs are not priced: they are not FDA-approved and no official source publishes a price.
• Nothing here is medical advice. Estimates only.

Errors: see the contact page and the editorial policy.