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The under-$200 test · fee anatomy
Affordable GLP-1 providers: what genuinely stays under $200 a month
"Affordable" is a claim about month six, not month one. This page applies a single test — does the true recurring cost, with every fee counted, stay under $200 — and dissects how advertised prices inflate on the way to your card statement.
Programs that pass the under-$200 test
On listed prices, three programs clear the bar. NexLife claims every plan lands under $200 at standard protocol — tirzepatide $139–169, semaglutide $119–139 — with medication, supplies, clinician care, support, and shipping bundled and no membership fee, an operator-supplied structure whose written terms are on our verification list (see plans ↗). Henry Meds' ~$179 tablet bundle passes on third-party reporting, with the format caveat that tablets lack clinical evidence (check price ↗). MEDVi's ~$199 entry price passes by a dollar — until the unconfirmed maintenance-dose price is known, which is the whole question (check price ↗).
How a $199 headline becomes $278
Mochi Health is the cleanest anatomy lesson. Its medication price is reported near $199 — but the program is unbundled, and a required membership fee (reported at $79 by some sources and $149 by others, a conflict we flag rather than resolve by averaging) pushes the effective monthly cost to roughly $278 or beyond (check price ↗). Nothing about that structure is dishonest if it's disclosed; it just means the advertised number isn't the affordable number. The same dissection applies everywhere: add membership, per-visit consultation charges, shipping, and dose-based increases to any headline price before comparing it to a flat bundle.
The four fees to hunt for
Membership fees convert a $199 program into a $278 one. Consultation fees turn "free evaluation" into a $49–99 quarterly line item. Shipping, usually $0–15, matters at the margins. And dose-based increases are the largest and least visible: a program priced by vial strength can climb hundreds of dollars as you titrate toward the 10–15 mg doses that produced the SURMOUNT results. Our pricing methodology folds all four into one true-monthly figure per program so the comparison is apples to apples.
When "affordable" should mean brand
If insurance covers Zepbound, an approved product at a $25–100 copay beats every number on this page — Ro's coverage workflow is built for exactly that (check coverage path ↗). And LillyDirect's $299–449 self-pay vials, while over our threshold, buy FDA-verified product; for anyone who can stretch to them, certainty is a legitimate line item (see vials ↗). Affordability below $110, meanwhile, is where legitimacy ends — see the rungs below the ladder.