"Greatest Country in the world" (USA) residents (older folks ideally) have you all been "forced" to go gray cuz your prescription was too expensive?

[bockscar]

Sooo....im super salty at the moment, and this is a semi rant if you wanna save your time LOL

My mom is in her 70s, diabetic, has sleep apnea and is overweight....aka the PERFECT candidate for GLP-1s. She was previously prescribed Trulicity and then the price JUMPED up so she stopped it. (2-3 months ago) Well she went for her quarterly Dr. visit and the doc prescribed Mounjaro. Took a few days and the insurance company finally approved it.........and it was gonna be $777 for a 3 month supply. Thats not a small amount for my mother (we arent rich) and she is on fixed income....so now im trying to talk her into gray with me (shes gonna be on board cuz shes seen what the reta has done to me). Right now my plan is to just load up on 4-5 kits for her (plus the 3-4 I was already gonna order myself) and just test them very thoroughly (much cheaper overall per vial when/if I buy that many kits).....buy once cry once type deal is what im thinking.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and "forced" to go gray? The health insurance system in the US disgusts me and im literallly ashamed of it since we Americans love to let everyone know how the USA is the greatest damn country in the world! This bullcrap isnt whats supposed to happen in the best country in the world! Posting this to rant...but also in hopes that maybe someone will have some solutions.

 

[spanky2026]

Unfortunately there isn't a solution. You could get her started on compounded, about $150 a month, beats $700 if she's afraid of gray. I belong to a 60+ Facebook GLP group and every single day there are multiple people posting that insurance just flat out no longer covers it, or denied coverage to start with. Even the new Medicare Bridge program is already proving to be a problem, if your insurance EVER approved you (like your mom) she's automatically disqualified from that $50 a month deal. Make it make sense.

I started with compound because it was all I could afford, senior also on a tight, fixed income. Moved to grey when EL and Novo actively started pushing FDA to stop compounders. Buy your mom a case load of grey when you can and offer to do all the recon each month. She'll be fine on it. (I would hesitate to sell her on Reta, jury's still out, at least for me, on its safety profile with older folks, increased heart rate and such).

 

[pepibello]

We are on the same boat. My dad in Southeast Asia is also a 70 yo diabetic. Since the price of the medicine there is so expensive, I have introduced him to gray pep. I have started using tele for 6 months but eventually switch to gray due to the price. Since then, he has been on his way to reversing his diabetes. My mom and siblings started using Tirz as well, and we have been in the best health ever.

 

[unclebuff702]

I made the jump (as a younger man than the demographic you're asking about) not necessarily because it was too expensive, but because it didn't make sense to me to pay more for the same peptides. What I spent in a month I got a years supply, it was a no brainer.

So when my mother and two of my aunts got an RX and told me the price, I told them I'd sell it to them for half price 😂... kidding, I take care of them at no cost. All three of them have enough Tirz to last the rest of their lives if needed.

Now that they've gone grey, guess who's wanting to try Wolverine and Glow and all the beauty peps lol.

Paying 1000x the price just for the illusion of safety (I say illusion because recalls happen all the time... Anyone seen the Netflix doc on Tylenol??) is ridiculous. I'm not paying for some pharma bro or his boss to buy a beach house so I can be healthy, damn all that.

 

[chunkyTN]

59 yrs old. Dr prescribed Wegovy and I took it for 3 months on a coupon for $199 a month. Then it was going to jump to about $1400 a month. I went med spa compounded for a while till my fsa was wiped out and then made the change to gray. Same story for my sister who is 66. She's on gray market now also.

I have pretty good insurance. So does my Sister. Neither of us could afford it if it wasn't for the gray market. Greatest country? 😕😡

 

[bockscar]

Unfortunately there isn't a solution. You could get her started on compounded, about $150 a month, beats $700 if she's afraid of gray. I belong to a 60+ Facebook GLP group and every single day there are multiple people posting that insurance just flat out no longer covers it, or denied coverage to start with. Even the new Medicare Bridge program is already proving to be a problem, if your insurance EVER approved you (like your mom) she's automatically disqualified from that $50 a month deal. Make it make sense.

I started with compound because it was all I could afford, senior also on a tight, fixed income. Moved to grey when EL and Novo actively started pushing FDA to stop compounders. Buy your mom a case load of grey when you can and offer to do all the recon each month. She'll be fine on it. (I would hesitate to sell her on Reta, jury's still out, at least for me, on its safety profile with older folks, increased heart rate and such).

Appreciate the words and feeling soooooo Mangione at the moment! 😂 Sucks that my moms situation isnt rare or unique....sucks big time!

As much as i wanted to push reta on her....i havent because it is still experimental technically and i might fancy myself a "biohacker" when it comes to myself, but i dont fancy myself a doctor to be "biohacking" OTHER people. Same reason why I wont sell even though Im a pretty good poster boy (at the moment) and can sell it if i wanted. Im no doctor LOL ill stay in my lane

with that said, when I heard she was now a LEGAL Tirz bro(ette).....well now i feel like i got carte blanche LOL

We are on the same boat. My dad in Southeast Asia is also a 70 yo diabetic. Since the price of the medicine there is so expensive, I have introduced him to gray pep. I have started using tele for 6 months but eventually switch to gray due to the price. Since then, he has been on his way to reversing his diabetes. My mom and siblings started using Tirz as well, and we have been in the best health ever.

HELLLLLL YEA! Glad to hear that and I wish the best for you and your family in your health journeys

 

[alphaskunk65]

Sooo....im super salty at the moment, and this is a semi rant if you wanna save your time LOL

My mom is in her 70s, diabetic, has sleep apnea and is overweight....aka the PERFECT candidate for GLP-1s. She was previously prescribed Trulicity and then the price JUMPED up so she stopped it. (2-3 months ago) Well she went for her quarterly Dr. visit and the doc prescribed Mounjaro. Took a few days and the insurance company finally approved it.........and it was gonna be $777 for a 3 month supply. Thats not a small amount for my mother (we arent rich) and she is on fixed income....so now im trying to talk her into gray with me (shes gonna be on board cuz shes seen what the reta has done to me). Right now my plan is to just load up on 4-5 kits for her (plus the 3-4 I was already gonna order myself) and just test them very thoroughly (much cheaper overall per vial when/if I buy that many kits).....buy once cry once type deal is what im thinking.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and "forced" to go gray? The health insurance system in the US disgusts me and im literallly ashamed of it since we Americans love to let everyone know how the USA is the greatest damn country in the world! This bullcrap isnt whats supposed to happen in the best country in the world! Posting this to rant...but also in hopes that maybe someone will have some solutions.

Look up Will McAvoy ( Jeff Daniel's ) to Northwestern. From the show Newsroom. Sums it up nicely!!

 

[byefatlicia]

(I would hesitate to sell her on Reta, jury's still out, at least for me, on its safety profile with older folks, increased heart rate and such).

This is my thinking too. Tirz is a great fit for her needs. Reta comes with some extra risk. Mom is worth minimizing risk. But she's also worth getting her Grey Tirz and helping her to get healthy. 🙂

 

[deluge]

"Have you all been "forced" to go gray cuz your prescription was too expensive?"​

Yes, pretty much what happened to me. I had 4 co-morbidities and yet my Blue Cross insurance declined to cover GLP's. Paid out of pocket for Sema for 1-2 months, but had no success, gave up.

Fast forward a year, and I learned about gray from a gun forum, and got started; fortunately I eventually discovered this place a few months later before I managed to hurt myself with bad advice/misconceptions.

I'm now down over 50 lbs and those comorbidities are fading into the past...

 

[grandpa_is_healthier]

Im 69 and couldn’t get approved. I went compounded. I have enough for about another 150 shots of I stay on my current dose. After that it’ll be grey. Unless the bridge plan actually works

 

[anhydrous]

Not exactly the same situation as my mom can afford it. She even brought it up with her doctor and got his blessing but she's been dragging her feet for almost a year. It is very annoying but I guess she's just too old, confused, and scared.

 

[byefatlicia]

Not exactly the same situation as my mom can afford it. She even brought it up with her doctor and got his blessing but she's been dragging her feet for almost a year. It is very annoying but I guess she's just too old, confused, and scared.

I remember being scared the first time. I have a phobia of taking anything. But holy cow, it was love at first pin. I'd prolly be dead already if I never tried.

 

[GLiPtest]

Sooo....im super salty at the moment, and this is a semi rant if you wanna save your time LOL

My mom is in her 70s, diabetic, has sleep apnea and is overweight....aka the PERFECT candidate for GLP-1s. She was previously prescribed Trulicity and then the price JUMPED up so she stopped it. (2-3 months ago) Well she went for her quarterly Dr. visit and the doc prescribed Mounjaro. Took a few days and the insurance company finally approved it.........and it was gonna be $777 for a 3 month supply. Thats not a small amount for my mother (we arent rich) and she is on fixed income....so now im trying to talk her into gray with me (shes gonna be on board cuz shes seen what the reta has done to me). Right now my plan is to just load up on 4-5 kits for her (plus the 3-4 I was already gonna order myself) and just test them very thoroughly (much cheaper overall per vial when/if I buy that many kits).....buy once cry once type deal is what im thinking.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and "forced" to go gray? The health insurance system in the US disgusts me and im literallly ashamed of it since we Americans love to let everyone know how the USA is the greatest damn country in the world! This bullcrap isnt whats supposed to happen in the best country in the world! Posting this to rant...but also in hopes that maybe someone will have some solutions.

There was no price increase for Trulicity between 2025 and 2026. Since she’s on Medicare you’re describing the deductible Medicare recipients pay at the beginning of the year, after which meds are no (or very low) charge.

With the commercial insurance most Americans have it’s $25 a month using the Eli Lily copay card.

For the tiny percentage of uninsured, or low income and can’t afford the deductible, there’s the “Lily Cares” program that provides the medication free of charge to tens of thousands of patients with a simple application.

I suggest you move to one of the many wonderful countries with “free healthcare”, that control costs by not offering many of the most advanced meds commonly available here, would put her on multiple injection a day insulin instead, and when she needs a hip replacement, instead of getting it done the following week, she can wait on the near multi-year waiting lists common in places like Canada and the EU.