By JOHN SAMARAS
Noom Med prices a GLP-1 plan at $249 a month. The last two words on the line matter.
“$129 To get started. $249/mo after the first 4-week supply (billed quarterly).”
That’s Noom’s pricing page on November 3, 2026. If a quarterly charge covers three months at $249, it comes to $747.
In a Buzz Health survey of 256 pharmacists in July, 68 percent reported more cash-pay GLP-1 sales over the past 12 months. Pay cash and your health plan may never see the purchase.
The $149 price that adds up to $298
Hims’ weight-loss page, read the same day, lists the Wegovy pill “From $149/mo.” A small mark leads to a footnote. That price “includes medication only,” and the required membership is “$39 for the first month, auto-renews at $149/month thereafter.”
At the lowest printed price, drug plus membership comes to $298 a month after month one, billed separately.
Regulators have noticed
On December 3, 2025, the FTC gave final approval to an order against the telehealth company NextMed, which it had alleged “sold weight-loss programs with undisclosed costs and membership commitments.” NextMed and its principals must pay $150,000.
In July 2026 the FTC, Utah and California sued Hims & Hers, alleging among other things that the company fails to “clearly and conspicuously inform consumers when their prescriptions will be refilled each month.” That case is pending.
Both cases came after the fact. The FTC’s fee rule, in effect since May 2025, reaches only live-event tickets and short-term lodging. California goes wider: since July 1, 2024, most businesses there can’t list a price that leaves out required fees, other than certain government taxes and shipping costs.
Put the billing terms beside the price
Wherever a buyer picks a cash GLP-1 plan, print the amount of each charge and how often it lands beside the monthly price, along with any recurring fee. A buyer could then work out the first 12 months from one page.
Noom would print the quarterly charge. Hims would show the membership beside the drug price.
The FTC could write that into its next order. An employer that reimburses cash purchases could ask for it.
Collective prints it. Collective sells compounded semaglutide, which is made by a pharmacy and is not FDA-approved. Its page, read November 3, prints “$59/month + $199 annual membership,” the same price at any dose.
The membership is required, starts with a 21-day free trial and is billed annually. A buyer can work out $907 for the first 12 months from that one line.
See the bill before your card does
Paying cash? Before you type in a card number, compare every cash GLP-1 program side by side on the GLP Chart homepage, then find the billing line on the program’s own page.
John Samaras is the founder of GLP Chart, which checks the published cash prices of the US GLP-1 telehealth programs it tracks every Monday and earns a commission when a reader signs up with some programs, including Collective.
