1 Bridge Program patient has difficulty getting medication
GLP-1 Bridge Program Patient has difficulty getting medication
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Updated: 6:58 PM EDT Aug 13, 2026Editorial Standards ⓘ
Susan Shapiro
Anchor
GLP-1 Bridge Program patient has difficulty getting medication
GLP-1 Bridge Program Patient has difficulty getting medication
Updated: 6:58 PM EDT Aug 13, 2026Editorial Standards ⓘ
Susan Shapiro
Anchor
Some Medicare patients can now receive GLP-1 medication at low cost. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services started the GLP-1 Bridge Program July 1st to help patients pay for certain weight-loss medicines. Beneficiaries have to meet certain requirements, including a specified body mass index
York woman gains access to Wegovy
Rebecca McWilliams of York was approved for the program after her doctor, Brian Sullivan, an L-G Health family physician, prescribed Wegovy
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She says she is excited because she has been begging for the medication. She had lost 100 pounds taking Ozempic in the past, but then her insurance stopped paying for it, and she regained the weight
Prescription initially denied at pharmacy
She now pays $50 a month for the medication, which she injects weekly. But she initially had difficulty filling the prescription after her CVS pharmacy denied it. She says, “It’s so new that my pharmacy pretty much said they don’t know how to, they couldn’t cover it, they wouldn’t give it to me.”
A CVS spokesperson said, “The patient’s Medicare beneficiary identifier, or MBI, had an ID error that caused the denial. It would have gone through as expected otherwise.” The pharmacy chain apologized for the patient’s experience
Medicare offers guidance as pilot continues
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services advises patients, among other things, to verify the payer and ask the pharmacist to confirm they are processing the claim directly through the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge central billing system rather than standard Part D
It says about 250,000 Medicare-eligible beneficiaries nationwide are using the pilot program. The government will evaluate the utilization and participation in the temporary program. McWilliams hopes it continues since she lost more than ten pounds in the first few weeks of using the medication
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