In July, Medicare began a pilot allowing eligible beneficiaries to get certain obesity drugs for $50 a month through the Bridge program. Less than two months after the launch, retail pharmacy chains report strong early demand: CVS and Walgreens each say they’ve filled about 100,000 Bridge prescriptions, and Walmart says Bridge fills have been processed at more than 5,000 of its pharmacies and are growing week to week.
The Bridge program is a workaround to a legal restriction that generally bars Medicare from covering weight-loss medications. Under the pilot, Medicare will pay for GLP-1 obesity drugs for people who meet specific clinical criteria — for example, obesity plus high blood pressure that is difficult to control. The temporary program runs through the end of 2027 and requires prior authorization before prescriptions can be filled.
Not everyone qualifies. Beneficiaries with sleep apnea or Type 2 diabetes are excluded because Medicare Part D is intended to cover GLP-1 drugs for those conditions. Pharmacy chains have also said they offer alternatives for people who don’t qualify: CVS, for instance, accepts a variety of third-party discount cards, manufacturer coupons and vouchers to help lower out-of-pocket costs.
Walgreens stocked extra supplies of Wegovy, Zepbound and Foundayo to prepare for the rollout. Walgreens’ chief pharmacy officer said the chain expected uptake but has seen somewhat higher demand than anticipated; about half of the Bridge patients Walgreens served had never used GLP-1 medications before. Pharmacists have an important role in counseling patients about common early side effects — such as nausea and diarrhea — and helping them continue therapy safely.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not provide detailed enrollment figures to reporters, but CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz posted that 250,000 beneficiaries had signed up for the program. It’s unclear how many of those sign-ups resulted in approved prior authorizations and filled prescriptions.
Analysts say the early numbers suggest meaningful interest. Before the pilot began, Medicare estimated roughly 4 million beneficiaries might meet the eligibility criteria. Jeremy Shane, a nonresident scholar at USC’s Leonard D. Schaeffer Institute, noted that the several hundred thousand fills reported so far could represent 5%–10% of the eligible population when accounting for fills at all pharmacies.
Cost is a central question. The administration hasn’t released an overall price estimate for the 18-month pilot, and nonpartisan researchers at KFF have estimated a potential cost range between $1.3 billion and $10 billion depending on participation levels. For context, KFF notes Medicare Part D spending on prescription drugs was about $181 billion in 2025. Experts argue that cost assessments should consider long-term value: if GLP-1 drugs improve health and prevent downstream complications, they could reduce other Medicare spending over time.
The Bridge program’s early uptake shows demand among Medicare beneficiaries, highlights the role of pharmacists in managing new prescriptions, and raises questions about cost, eligibility and the program’s longer-term implications for Medicare coverage of weight-loss medications.