GLP-1 Patient Assistance Programs: What Novo Nordisk and Lilly Cares Give Free

Novo Nordisk’s Patient Assistance Program gives Ozempic free, but only to uninsured households earning no more than twice the federal poverty guideline. Wegovy and Rybelsus are not on its list.^[1][2] Lilly Cares gives Trulicity free up to 300% of the poverty level, and does not include Mounjaro, Zepbound or Foundayo.^[5][6] No free-medicine program from either company covers a GLP-1 approved for weight loss. For Wegovy and Zepbound, the routes left are insurance with a savings card, the manufacturers’ cash prices, and, on Medicare, the $50 GLP-1 Bridge.^[13]

Which GLP-1s each free-medicine program covers

Novo’s product list for the program names four Ozempic pens and marks every one of them “available for uninsured patients only.”^[2] The rest of the list is insulins, needles, a pen device and Xultophy, an insulin combined with liraglutide.^[2] Novo’s own page warns that some medicines left the program for 2026.^[1] Lilly’s list runs to more than two dozen products, from insulins to cancer drugs, and Trulicity is its only GLP-1.^[5] Lilly Cares recently reopened Trulicity to new applicants without the medical exception it had been requiring.^[4]

Ozempic and Trulicity are diabetes drugs. Ozempic’s approval covers blood-sugar control in adult type 2 diabetes, with no weight-management indication.^[9] A free supply goes to the patient whose prescriber writes it for that drug; the program does not turn Ozempic into a weight-loss benefit.

Novo Nordisk Patient Assistance Program: who qualifies

The program charges nothing to join and nothing per month.^[1] For 2026, Novo sets five conditions:^[1]

• Residency. A US citizen or legal resident.^[1]
• Insurance. Medicare or no insurance at all. Anyone with private or commercial coverage is out, whether or not that plan covers the drug.^[1]
• No other public drug coverage. Not enrolled in, and not eligible for, Medicaid, the Medicare Low-Income Subsidy (Extra Help) or VA benefits. If you could qualify for Medicaid or Extra Help, the application needs the denial letter.^[1]
• Income for Ozempic. Household income no higher than 200% of the poverty guideline. Other products on the list allow up to 400%.^[1]
• A prescription. After approval, Novo contacts your prescriber for it.^[1]

Novo checks income electronically. Its application form asks for consent to an income verification that includes a soft credit check.^[3] Paystubs, W-2s or 1099s are requested only if you did not file taxes or had a life event that changed your income.^[1] Residents of Maine and Minnesota also send a photo ID.^[1]

The 2026 Medicare change for Ozempic

Until 2026 the program took Medicare patients on Ozempic. It no longer does. Novo’s 2026 rules shut Part D enrollees out of free Ozempic, and its page notes that most Medicare drug plans cover Ozempic.^[1] Novo also dropped its old rule that Part D patients first spend $1,000 out of pocket; that change helps on the products still open to Medicare, such as the insulins.^[1] For a Part D enrollee on Ozempic, the route is the plan’s own copay. Novo points those patients to the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, which spreads drug costs over the year without reducing them.^[1]

Lilly Cares: who qualifies

Lilly Cares is a separate nonprofit foundation that gives donated Lilly medicines free for up to 12 months.^[4] It sorts its products into income groups, and Trulicity sits in Group 1.^[6] To qualify for Trulicity:

• Residency. A permanent resident of the United States, including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.^[6]
• Insurance. No insurance, or Medicare Part D. Unlike Novo’s program for Ozempic, Lilly Cares still takes Part D enrollees for Trulicity.^[6]
• No Medicaid, full Extra Help or VA benefits.^[6]
• Income. A household adjusted gross income no higher than 300% of the 2026 poverty guideline. Insulins are Group 2, at 400%.^[6]
• No plan steering you there. If an employer or health plan requires you to apply to Lilly Cares as a condition of coverage, through what Lilly calls an alternative funding program, you are not eligible.^[6]

Lilly Cares verifies income through a consumer reporting agency and checks insurance electronically, and can ask for more documents if the results do not match.^[6] People in Alaska and Hawaii, where the poverty guidelines are higher, are told to call for their limits.^[6]

The income limits in dollars

The 300% column matches Lilly’s own published table to the dollar.^[6][7] Novo does not print dollar figures. It states the percentage and sends applicants to an outside table of the poverty guidelines, so the 200% column is the HHS guideline doubled.^[1][7] Each additional household member raises the 2026 guideline by $5,680.^[7]

How to apply, and how long it takes

Novo is moving enrollment to online only and says the form works on a phone; a prescriber’s office can help anyone without internet access.^[1] Its medicine ships from Neovance Specialty Pharmacy, which calls to schedule delivery, and it cannot go to a local pharmacy.^[1] Lilly Cares also ships only through its contracted pharmacy, with no pickup.^[6] Both programs ship free.^[1][6] Neither charges a fee for applying, and Lilly says it is not affiliated with third parties that charge to file the application.^[6]

Medicare patients enroll by calendar year in both programs. Novo takes next-year applications from Part D enrollees after October 15, and its form says a Part D patient who joins stays in the program until December 31.^[1][3] On Lilly Cares, the last shipment of the year can be smaller than usual because a Part D enrollment ends with the calendar year.^[6]

Free medicine, savings cards and cash prices are three different programs

Search results mix three kinds of manufacturer program under one name, and their insurance rules conflict. A free-medicine program wants you uninsured or on Medicare. A savings card wants commercial insurance and refuses Medicare. A cash price ignores insurance entirely.

The figures come from the manufacturers’ pages. Novo’s Wegovy and Ozempic savings offers cap the discount at $100 a month and exclude government beneficiaries.^[8][9] Zepbound’s card adds a $1,300 yearly cap and ends December 31, 2026.^[10] Mounjaro’s card caps savings at $150 a month and $1,950 a year, has a $499 version for plans that do not cover it, and also ends December 31, 2026; Lilly lists Mounjaro at LillyDirect for self-pay only.^[11] Foundayo starts at $149 a month self-pay.^[12] Which card fits which plan is covered in GLP-1 manufacturer coupons, and current prices for every brand are on the savings page.

If you need Wegovy or Zepbound and cannot pay

No free-medicine route exists for these drugs, so the question becomes which paid route is cheapest for your coverage.

• On Medicare Part D. The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, running from July 2026, pays for Wegovy (pen or pill), the Zepbound KwikPen and Foundayo prescribed for weight, leaving a $50 copay per month’s supply after prior authorization.^[13] Extra Help cannot reduce the $50. Anyone whose GLP-1 would treat diabetes, moderate-to-severe sleep apnea or fatty liver is sent back to the regular Part D plan.^[13] Eligibility and the steps are in the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge.
• On Medicaid or eligible for it. Both free-medicine programs exclude you, and coverage depends on your state. See does Medicaid cover Ozempic and Wegovy and does Medicaid cover Zepbound.
• With commercial insurance. Neither free-medicine program will take you. The first step is the plan’s criteria and, if needed, an appeal: how to get a GLP-1 covered by insurance.
• With no insurance. The lowest legal prices are compared in the cheapest GLP-1 without insurance, and the ways to pay are set out in how to pay for a GLP-1 without insurance.

If you pay cash, an online prescriber can write the prescription, but at several of them the drug is billed apart from the visit. Walgreens Weight Management and Amazon One Medical prescribe brand-name drugs only, Wegovy in pen or pill form among them, and show their prices before the health questionnaire. Call-On-Doc charges a care-only visit fee for brand drugs and leaves the medication to your own pharmacy, where insurance or a savings card can be used. WeightWatchers Clinic, the prescribing arm of the WeightWatchers Med+ membership, prescribes brand GLP-1s only and bills the drug apart from the membership.

Other online sellers list a brand pen next to compounded versions, which are not the same product as the FDA-approved drug. Fridays lists name-brand Ozempic, Effecty lists both Ozempic and Wegovy, and SkinnyRx sells Ozempic and Wegovy pens on a monthly plan that you can pay in full or finance.