Starting July 1, 2026, millions of Medicare beneficiaries will have access to weight loss medications like Wegovy and Zepbound for a fixed $50 monthly copay through a new federal demonstration program called the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge. For people who have been paying more than $1,000 a month for these drugs out of pocket, the savings could be dramatic.
But the program comes with limitations that many enrollees may not fully understand before signing up — and for the lowest-income seniors, those limitations may make the program less accessible than the headline number suggests.
