[nerdawson]

I did a little bit of research and for people in the UK it appears to be substantially less. I found a few health companies offering it for <$250/mo. I’ll probably wait until it’s readily available on the NHS but it is tempting.

[onionisafruit]

My US doctor recommended it to me last week and said there was a way for it to cost about $200/mo if I want to do that. I thought it was strange that he said it that way instead of just saying the price, but I didn't follow up because we were 45 minutes into the appointment and I was ready to get out of there.

I'm supposed to book a follow up appointment after I've read about it, so I guess I'll find out what he means then.

[ceejayoz]

Pretty much every expensive medication has a copay assistance program in the US.

For trirzepatide: https://www.mounjaro.com/hcp/savings-resources

They typically are income blind and make your out-of-pocket price negligible. I'm on a med (Skyrizi) that's $18k per shot, one every three months; their assistance program ensures I don't pay more than $5.

They chip in on the deductible/coinsurance/copay, you don't skip the medication due to cost, and they still get significant money out of your insurer. Everybody wins, until everyone's premiums go up next year.

[thinkmcfly]

Goddamn your healthcare system is fucked up.

[strombofulous]

Is it? Isn't this exactly the outcome you'd hope for?

Individual consumers pay basically nothing and companies are still incentivized to innovate and create new medicines

[ceejayoz]

Individual consumers aren’t paying nothing. The cost is just being hidden from them so they don’t flip over the tables.

They pay via premiums - mine went up to $2,792/month this year - or if their employer pays those, via the resulting wage impact.

And, as a result, we spend 2-3x what the rest of the OECD spends on healthcare - public and private spending - with roughly the same health outcomes.

[ceejayoz]

Agreed. Injecting a milliliter of fluid worth as much as a new car makes me twitchy.

[giaour]

Your doc was probably referring to purchasing semaglutide from a compounding pharmacy, which is usually in the $200/month range (depending on dose). Compounded versions don't typically come in the user friendly "injection pen" format that brand name versions do, so not everybody is comfortable with that option.

[onionisafruit]

Interesting. For an $800/mo savings, I can get real comfortable self administering an old-fashioned shot.

[aantix]

14mg Rybelsus can be had for about $200/mo through Canadian pharmacies.

Look at 1800rxonline.

[sidewndr46]

I thought the UK had government healthcare?

[mclouts91]

It does but it doesn’t mean you get any treatment available. They carefully make decisions on what treatments they can/should provide. This may be offered eventually but at the moment it’s a case of be very fat and get offered gastric sleeve or just be overweight and no treatments are offered other than advice about losing weight

[aantix]

Any sort of new care option, you're looking at 20-30 year window before it may become an option?

[nerdawson]

Semaglutide is available on the NHS but I wouldn't currently qualify. It'd only be prescribed if I met certain criteria such as having type 2 diabetes.

It's a case of either paying for a private prescription now, or waiting until it's made more accessible on the NHS.