1.7 mg
Last Weight: 228 pounds
Down 41 pounds (15.2%)

Sometimes I really hate certain parts about living in this country.  I should be sitting here writing about how I am one pound away from not being obese for the first time since I became a parent. I should be writing about how I am more than halfway to my goal weight.  I should be writing about how I am now at the weight that I sustained for most of my young adulthood.

Instead I am writing about insurance and the pharmaceutical industry.  I pay $500 a month to insure my family with good insurance.  I am lucky to have access to good insurance as a federal government employee.  I’ve been paying $25 a month for Wegovy.  Meanwhile, my insurance pays $1225.44 each month.  That is more than $300 per dose.  So it wasn’t surprising when my found out my premiums would be increasing to $600 a month.  

What was surprising was when my insurance decided to reclassify Wegovy from tier 2 to tier 3.  Tier 2 costs $25.  Tier 3 costs me 60% of the negotiated price.  That means I would have to pay $735 a month for my medication…and that is with insurance.  So…that’s not going to happen.  I don’t exactly have $710 extra dollars in my budget—especially after my premiums are going up $100.

I know there are other options that I can consider.  But what I do know right now is that my insurance will still allow me to buy Wegovy for $25 through mid-January.  At the rate that I am taking them (falling behind with the flu and whatnot), if I time it correctly, I will have enough doses to get me through the end of February.

The thing is, my apps have been very stable—showing late February as the date I will reach my goal.  So there is a part of me that  wonders if I can just power through, make it to my goal, stop the medication, and then make it my new goal to maintain.  It doesn’t sound ideal, but I do have to consider it.

The way medicine and insurance in the country works is insane.  I didn’t need more of a reason to vote for Harris, but I can throw this one on the pile.  Even incremental change away from the system we have now is better than the status quo.