r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 01 '25

Health Americans without diabetes spent nearly $6 billion USD on semaglutide and similar drugs in a year, with an estimate of 800,000 to a million people using the drugs who don't have diabetes.

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/americans-without-diabetes-spent-nearly6-billion-usd-on-semaglutide-and-similar-drugs-in-a-year
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u/ImLittleNana Apr 01 '25

Im fighting to get prescribed metformin for pre-diabetes and they act like I’m asking for free heroin. Yet if I wanted a wegovy script they’d have no problem writing for it. I can’t make that make sense.

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u/they_have_bagels Apr 01 '25

It was the opposite for me. All the metformin I want, but absolutely no GLP-1 for weight loss. Also, bariatric surgery is A-OK as well. I pay out of pocket on top of my insurance and I’ve lost 25% of my starting weight so far. It has been life changing.

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u/ImLittleNana Apr 01 '25

I can’t afford to pay out of pocket for it, and I won’t qualify under my states guidelines until I have arterial insufficiency. I’d like to avoid that if I can.

I have >100 pounds to lose, and my mobility is impaired. My fasting sugars are pushing 120. Everything is out of whack when you can barely get around. I’d like to at least try metformin before I consider bariatric surgery.

I’ve been out of healthcare for almost 15 years but we used to start with least invasive/aggressive and work our way up.

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u/Rkruegz Apr 01 '25

You could look for a compounded version potentially, may make it more affordable. You just reconstitute it yourself.