To get Wegovy for weight loss, you need a prescription from a licensed healthcare provider and must meet specific weight-related criteria. The process involves confirming your eligibility, getting a prescription through an in-person or telehealth visit, and navigating insurance coverage or out-of-pocket costs. Here’s how each step works.
Who Qualifies for Wegovy
The FDA approves Wegovy for adults who have obesity, defined as a BMI of 30 or higher, or adults who are overweight with a BMI between 27 and 29.9 and have at least one weight-related health condition. Those conditions include high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or type 2 diabetes, whether treated or untreated. Teens aged 12 and older also qualify if their BMI falls at or above the 95th percentile for their age and sex.
If your BMI is under 27 and you have no qualifying health conditions, you won’t meet the criteria for a Wegovy prescription under current guidelines. You can calculate your BMI using your height and weight before scheduling an appointment, but your provider will confirm it during the visit.
How to Get a Prescription
Any licensed prescriber, including primary care doctors, endocrinologists, and obesity medicine specialists, can write a Wegovy prescription. You don’t need to see a specialist, though some insurance plans may require the prescription to come from a specific type of provider.
Telehealth is a widely available option. Novo Nordisk, the company that makes Wegovy, partners with platforms that connect patients to licensed providers virtually. Several independent telehealth services also prescribe Wegovy after an online consultation, medical history review, and BMI verification. These visits are typically faster to schedule than in-person appointments and can be done from home.
During the visit, your provider will review your weight history, current medications, and any conditions that might make Wegovy unsafe for you. Wegovy is always prescribed alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity, so expect your provider to discuss those lifestyle changes as part of the plan.
How Wegovy Works
Wegovy contains semaglutide, which mimics a hormone your body naturally produces after eating. This hormone signals your brain to reduce hunger and increase the feeling of fullness. Wegovy also slows the rate at which your stomach empties food, so you feel satisfied longer after meals and are less likely to overeat. The combined effect is a meaningful reduction in appetite and overall food intake.
What the Dosing Schedule Looks Like
You don’t start Wegovy at its full dose. Instead, the medication follows a gradual 16-week ramp-up to give your body time to adjust and reduce side effects, particularly nausea.
- Weeks 1 through 4: 0.25 mg once weekly
- Weeks 5 through 8: 0.5 mg once weekly
- Weeks 9 through 12: 1 mg once weekly
- Weeks 13 through 16: 1.7 mg once weekly
- Week 17 onward: 1.7 mg or 2.4 mg once weekly (maintenance dose for adults)
Each dose is a once-weekly injection you give yourself using a prefilled pen, similar to an insulin pen. You inject it under the skin of your stomach, thigh, or upper arm. If you experience significant nausea or other stomach issues at any step, your provider can delay the next dose increase by four weeks rather than pushing through it.
Common Side Effects
Digestive issues are the most frequent side effects, especially during dose escalation. Nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and constipation all occur in more than 5% of people taking Wegovy. Other commonly reported effects include stomach pain, headache, fatigue, dizziness, bloating, acid reflux, gas, and hair loss. Most of these are mild to moderate and tend to improve as your body adjusts to each dose level.
In clinical trials, the side effects that most often caused people to stop taking Wegovy were nausea (1.8% of participants), vomiting (1.2%), and diarrhea (0.7%). The vast majority of people tolerated the medication well enough to continue.
Insurance Coverage and Prior Authorization
Insurance coverage for Wegovy varies significantly by plan, and many insurers require prior authorization before they’ll pay for it. This means your provider submits documentation proving you meet the medical criteria, including your BMI, any weight-related conditions, and sometimes evidence that you’ve tried other weight loss approaches first. The approval process can take days to weeks depending on your insurer.
Some commercial insurance plans cover Wegovy for weight loss, while others exclude weight management drugs entirely. If your plan does cover it, you may still face a high copay. Novo Nordisk offers a savings program for commercially insured patients that can bring the cost down to as little as $25 per month, with a maximum savings of $100 per month.
Medicare Coverage Is Limited
Medicare is prohibited by law from covering medications prescribed specifically for obesity or weight loss. However, Medicare Part D plans can now cover Wegovy when it’s prescribed to reduce cardiovascular risk in adults who have established heart disease (a prior heart attack, prior stroke, or peripheral arterial disease) and are overweight or obese. If you’re on Medicare and don’t have documented cardiovascular disease, Wegovy for weight loss alone won’t be covered.
Costs Without Insurance
Without insurance, Wegovy is expensive. Novo Nordisk runs a direct pharmacy program for patients who are new to Wegovy or paying out of pocket. Through this program, the starter doses (0.25 mg and 0.5 mg) cost $199 per month for the first two fills through June 2026. After that, or for higher doses, the price rises to $349 per month for standard doses and $399 per month for the highest dose.
These prices through the manufacturer’s pharmacy are substantially lower than the full retail price at a traditional pharmacy, which can exceed $1,300 per month. If you’re paying out of pocket, filling through the NovoCare pharmacy program is worth exploring.
Supply and Availability
Wegovy experienced significant supply shortages in previous years, but the FDA formally declared the semaglutide injection shortage resolved in February 2025. All pen strengths, from the 0.25 mg starter dose through the 2.4 mg maintenance dose, are currently listed as available from the manufacturer. That said, the FDA acknowledges that localized, temporary supply disruptions can still occur as products move through wholesalers and distributors to individual pharmacies. If your local pharmacy is out of stock, calling other nearby pharmacies or using a mail-order option can help.
Steps to Get Started
The practical path looks like this: check that your BMI meets the threshold, schedule a visit with your doctor or a telehealth provider, and discuss whether Wegovy is appropriate given your health history. If your provider writes a prescription, contact your insurance company or check your plan’s formulary to understand coverage. If prior authorization is required, your provider’s office will handle the submission. Once approved, your pharmacy will fill the first starter-dose pen, and you’ll begin the 16-week escalation schedule.
If your insurance denies coverage, ask your provider about an appeal. Many denials are overturned when additional documentation is submitted. You can also explore the manufacturer’s savings programs or direct pharmacy pricing as alternatives to going through insurance.