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

[DustAndDignity]

I feel for everyone who has had access to this quality of life changing medication denied by their insurance company or been priced out by cost.

Setting politics aside, I don’t think constructive criticism of policies or systems should automatically be viewed as hatred of a country, nor should it be met with “then leave.” People can appreciate where they live while still wanting things to improve.

Healthcare is fundamental to quality of life and there are many conditions that people were born with or have no control over. Wanting this to improve benefits our society as a whole.

I thoroughly enjoy reading the stories in here from people who’ve had their life changed via peptides and those who have found reliable cost efficient gray, and I look forward to reading more of these stories.

 

[byefatlicia]

I feel for everyone who has had access to this quality of life changing medication denied by their insurance company or been priced out by cost.

Setting politics aside, I don’t think constructive criticism of policies or systems should automatically be viewed as hatred of a country, nor should it be met with “then leave.” People can appreciate where they live while still wanting things to improve.

Healthcare is fundamental to quality of life and there are many conditions that people were born with or have no control over. Wanting this to improve benefits our society as a whole.

I thoroughly enjoy reading the stories in here from people who’ve had their life changed via peptides and those who have found reliable cost efficient gray, and I look forward to reading more of these stories.

I feel like we need to push for new legislation that would allow us to make our own purchasing decisions and save our own lives or not. Like the Right to Try act does for cancer patients. IMO the grey market will save more lives than harm people. Though a few could be harmed, it is our own risk and choice to try.

 

[randompersonrandom]

I have nothing to add except HOLY SHIT I missed all the political bullshit!!!! Dayum!
RandomPerson can you update .e through your signature???? 🥴🥰

I can't. As soon as someone starts spouting political opinions that I find unsavory, misogynistic, or cruel, I hit ignore cause I play on the internet for fun and no way am I gonna read that sh when nobody's paying me to do it.

It makes my social media experience in general fairly awesome because if it isn't wonderful its not on my screen, but it does mean lots of conversations look confusing and fragmented cause I'm missing the weird half.

 

[byefatlicia]

I can't. As soon as someone starts spouting political opinions that I find unsavory, misogynistic, or cruel, I hit ignore cause I play on the internet for fun and no way am I gonna read that sh when nobody's paying me to do it.

It makes my social media experience in general fairly awesome because if it isn't wonderful its not on my screen, but it does mean lots of conversations look confusing and fragmented cause I'm missing the weird half.

Love the signature 🤣

 

[randompersonrandom]

Love the signature 🤣

I almost didn't, cause bro had mentioned some mental health issues in his intro thread and I try not to make comedy out of someone who's struggling, but his kiss-off made me lol too hard to pass up.

 

[byefatlicia]

I feel like we need to push for new legislation that would allow us to make our own purchasing decisions and save our own lives or not. Like the Right to Try act does for cancer patients. IMO the grey market will save more lives than harm people. Though a few could be harmed, it is our own risk and choice to try.

Back before GLPs, when I was quite the foodie, I would buy tamales from the folks selling them out of a car outside the grocery store. Was it more risky? Absolutely! But if I got sick from it, nobody got bent out of shape. They would just be like, "Well, you bought tamales from a random car... what did you expect?"

Too bad they don't have a Janoshik for tamales... But I'd have had a hard time parting with one. 🤣

 

[Sasquatch]

Back before GLPs, when I was quite the foodie, I would buy tamales from the folks selling them out of a car outside the grocery store. Was it more risky? Absolutely! But if I got sick from it, nobody got bent out of shape. They would just be like, "Well, you bought tamales from a random car... what did you expect?"

Too bad they don't have a Janoshik for tamales... But I'd have had a hard time parting with one. 🤣

I've done this! And bought delicious coconut Popsicles out of old washing machines on rusty trailers. 👍

 

[Skidude]

I remember early 90s trips to to Tijuana and there were like 6-8 shacks in a row with Cardboard signs that read "TACO BELL" on the walk over to Revolution Blvd.

Best tacos...

As for Topic-
I think most are here, and buying gray, for the savings. Not necessarily forced..
That goes for worldwide and what I have seen all ages...

The rest could not get what they needed even with free medical until trials complete..
talking to quite a few Reta users

 

[CNCCurrency]

exactly! it's precisely due to the fact that I do love my country that I am asking the questions about the direction we've taken healthcare in. I care so I want all of us to succeed... not just the people that can afford to. why do people always frame this as on or off? zero or one? oh your not a patriot if you ask hard questions? foh with that noise! ok I'm gettin all fired up 🤣🤣

You tell them, don't tread on me!

 

[Bird_of_Hermes]

Not the target demographic of this thread (or to be honest, this forum, which is interesting to me… but a whole other topic), but as a person in my 30s I have a couple comorbidities in addition to being, by bmi, overweight.

They soft approved me (?), but I have an HSA, so it came out to 500 a month (or 300 from EL)… I don’t hit that deductible. Not even close. I just did a bit of math and now I have the equivalent of over 100k at that rate for less than 1k.

 

[CNCCurrency]

I was forced to go grey bc of insurance lol.

But in reverse, my insurance basically told me, "you took the drug. you lost weight and most recent lab results are stable. you are very young and don't need it anymore to maintain" lmao. And then went on to basically tell me to lock in and go to the gym + "focus on nutrition".

They would NEVER say this for a non-glp drug that is working for a patient. Imagine they said this for antidepressants, "ur no longer depressed, you are young and don't need it anymore"

If she has sleep apnea maybe a script for Zep could be cheaper idk. Something to explore and her insurance pharmacy ppl can explain to you the different costs and/or if there is a cheaper option.

You're assuming people even went that route? I never tried name brand or compounded. Straight to grey. Who in the hell wants to wait on dr's appointments with the hopes of your insurer covering it and after months of waiting for approval you could be down 30 pounds during those months. No thank you!

 

[TazaTaza]

You're assuming people even went that route? I never tried name brand or compounded. Straight to grey. Who in the hell wants to wait on dr's appointments with the hopes of your insurer covering it and after months of waiting for approval you could be down 30 pounds during those months. No thank you!

I do not promote grey IRL, and will never do it. I tell ppl go through their insurance, and they all got approved bc of their various conditions within 2-3 days from doc's appointment to box in their fridge. They all pay less than $40/month for name brand.

I will always advise name brand through insurance before grey, and nope I'm never in a rush to buy illicit weight loss drugs lol. It took me 24 hours to get my PA approved and I was on Tirz, 1 day after my doc's appointment lol.

If you were diagnosed w/ T2D or obesity, yeah you prolly missed out on the name brand boat, it is glorious compared to grey. No ISRs, no guessing, no doubt, no cloudy business, no bac water worries, no recon worries, no worries about endos/purity/mass. Just pin and go w/immediate results.

My insurance might be changing at the end of the year bc of my job and yeah OF COURSE I'm going to try again the PA route to get those sweet pens. No shame! Name brand is superior and ppl should always try their best to get it. I hope w/the new gen of glps price for Tirz goes down and insurance see it as the less experimental stuff for more approvals. One can hope and dream.

 

[endlrls]

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.

This man.. once you see the grey prices... you literally CAN NOT go back! Thanks for the post!

 

[endlrls]

I’m on prescribed Mounjaro 5 mg, and I can see how much my insurance is being charged—about $1,250 for a one-month supply of four pens! If my insurance stops covering it, I’m in trouble because it works incredibly well for my type 2 diabetes. If I lose my job, I’m in the same situation.

It’s really frustrating because this medication has been amazing for glucose control, appetite reduction, and satiety. But who knows when it will finally become generic—maybe another 10 years? If my insurance stops paying for it, I’ll have to look at compounded options, and if those become too expensive, I’ll have to explore grey for tirz..

That is literally $20 (or cheaper) for 20 mg... depending on source.. it's disgusting the jack up cost on the pens... holy man..

 

[endlrls]

Insurance wouldnt cover anything for me. Luckily have a friend that was on reta and got me all set up with buying it from a seller in the US. Of course I paid way to much for the first few months until I found this place!

we all do, mate... until you dig hard enough and "find your way" to Grey... 😆

 

[CNCCurrency]

I do not promote grey IRL, and will never do it. I tell ppl go through their insurance, and they all got approved bc of their various conditions within 2-3 days from doc's appointment to box in their fridge. They all pay less than $40/month for name brand.

I will always advise name brand through insurance before grey, and nope I'm never in a rush to buy illicit weight loss drugs lol. It took me 24 hours to get my PA approved and I was on Tirz, 1 day after my doc's appointment lol.

If you were diagnosed w/ T2D or obesity, yeah you prolly missed out on the name brand boat, it is glorious compared to grey. No ISRs, no guessing, no doubt, no cloudy business, no bac water worries, no recon worries, no worries about endos/purity/mass. Just pin and go w/immediate results.

My insurance might be changing at the end of the year bc of my job and yeah OF COURSE I'm going to try again the PA route to get those sweet pens. No shame! Name brand is superior and ppl should always try their best to get it. I hope w/the new gen of glps price for Tirz goes down and insurance see it as the less experimental stuff for more approvals. One can hope and dream.

Once again you make a lot of assumptions

 

[frankpeptid]

Insurance rug pulled my tirz because my A1c became normal. Yup.. makes no sense.

 

[Turbo-Farmer]

Insurance rug pulled my tirz because my A1c became normal. Yup.. makes no sense.

Same, I was prescribed Mounjourno when my A1C had me at type 2 and it was somewhat reasonable. However when my blood sugar fell, I was only able to get zepbound at $600 a month. Which was the same price as 3 months of the compounded.

Get healthier and the take away the thing that helped you get there, tragic.

 

[frankpeptid]

Same, I was prescribed Mounjourno when my A1C had me at type 2 and it was somewhat reasonable. However when my blood sugar fell, I was only able to get zepbound at $600 a month. Which was the same price as 3 months of the compounded.

Get healthier and the take away the thing that helped you get there, tragic.

Insane right? I asked insurer on appeal, if my blood pressure became normal after taking a blood pressure medication, do you then stop paying for the patients blood pressure medication? I hate this country's health care system. Profit over people.

 

[Lovedog100]

There was no price increase for Trulicity between 2025 and 2026. Since she’s on Medicare you’re describing the deductible Medicare recipients pay (max $615), after which meds are no (or very low) charge. Since you’re so involved with her care, I’m sure you’ve seen this every year for the last 8 years since she’s been on Medicare since she was 62.

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 or knee 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.

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-75-white-coat-black-art/clip/16148044-waiting-84-weeks-counting-knee

Congratulations, another ignorant American brainwashed into hating their country.

PS: GLPs for weight loss aren’t covered by Medicare yet, because of a law banning it from paying for weight loss meds (after the deadly phenphen weight loss med scandal in the 90s). It will be covered in a few months, capped at $50/mo max for Wegovy or Zepbound, any dose.

My last 3 month prescription with my Blue Cross advantage plan for Ozempic was over $1,000. Even the pharmacist at Costco Was shocked. US taxes are high, wanting to get something for our money other than White House UFC fights, and ICE paroling our cities carrying machine guns, is not hating our country. It's wanting our taxes spent on the people, not the billionaires. The person that is brainwashed is the one that FOX has convinced that everyone in the EU are waiting years for treatment. Have you noticed that every first world country on earth has Universal Healthcare except the US, and not one of them have gone back to the old broken system that the AMA and big pharma has forced on US citizens?

 

[headward]

In this case, it's partly a good thing. People finding alternatives that are much cheaper, convenient, customizable and outside the norm. But it requires some basic technical expertise, something most elderly people won't be able to do independently (google, telegram, etc.) and hearing about peptides somehow. Probably many different paths that lead down the gray peptide rabbit hole, then the gb one.

In many countries with cheap meds, one week of tirz is ~10+ times more expensive than the gray. Many countries' public healthcare models/insurance might not even cover it. Any time you put more choices in the hands of people, that's a good thing imho. If it's gray, then so be it. It might help people think and investigate remedies for themselves rather than relying on someone else that might not care as much.

 

[CMA Pooky]

Insane right? I asked insurer on appeal, if my blood pressure became normal after taking a blood pressure medication, do you then stop paying for the patients blood pressure medication? I hate this country's health care system. Profit over people.

Insane right? I asked insurer on appeal, if my blood pressure became normal after taking a blood pressure medication, do you then stop paying for the patients blood pressure medication? I hate this country's health care system. Profit over people.

I'm so glad I moved out of the country last year. Everything has become a ripoff there.

 

[CNCCurrency]

I'm so glad I moved out of the country last year. Everything has become a ripoff there.

So you come on here to shit on the USA?

 

[frankpeptid]

I'm so glad I moved out of the country last year. Everything has become a ripoff there.

I've considered the same.

 

[mybodyisasewer]

I feel for everyone who has had access to this quality of life changing medication denied by their insurance company or been priced out by cost.

Setting politics aside, I don’t think constructive criticism of policies or systems should automatically be viewed as hatred of a country, nor should it be met with “then leave.” People can appreciate where they live while still wanting things to improve.

Healthcare is fundamental to quality of life and there are many conditions that people were born with or have no control over. Wanting this to improve benefits our society as a whole.

I thoroughly enjoy reading the stories in here from people who’ve had their life changed via peptides and those who have found reliable cost efficient gray, and I look forward to reading more of these stories.

I've learned a lot more about other countries healthcare systems from this forum than I expected to. I still think the American system sucks, and I still think it's the best.

 

[lessthanhalf]

I've learned a lot more about other countries healthcare systems from this forum than I expected to. I still think the American system sucks, and I still think it's the best.

Sadly by most objective measures this is very much so not true. For most important health metrics, despite having the most expensive health care system on earth by a long way, The US is well behind most other western nations in life expectancy, maternal mortality, infant mortality, and obviously equitable access to healthcare. Going bankrupt from getting sick is just not a thing in most other western nations.