Tool

First-year cost calculator

A first year on a GLP-1 usually has two price phases: cheaper escalation months at starting doses, then costlier maintenance months. This calculator models both phases plus recurring and one-time fees, which is why its answer is usually higher — and more realistic — than twelve times the advertised price.

Calculator

Formula and assumptions

first-year total = escalation-months × escalation price + (12 − escalation-months) × maintenance price + 12 × recurring fees + one-time costs. Assumptions: you stay on therapy all 12 months (discontinuation is common in practice — a partial year costs less but prepaid plans may not refund it); prices don't change mid-year; and your provider's escalation pricing is actually flat during escalation, which some providers' dose-tier pricing breaks — if so, use its highest escalation tier here for a conservative number.

Why the two-phase structure matters

Providers advertise the escalation phase; budgets get broken by the maintenance phase. For dose-escalated pricing, month 6 can cost half again what month 1 did. Ourmedication pages label which listed figures are entry prices and which apply to ongoing doses, with the evidence status of each — check what your maintenance price would actually be before trusting any first-year estimate, including this one.