---
type: claim
domain: health
description: The program's legal architecture places the $50 copay outside Part D cost-sharing structures, making it invisible to LIS subsidies and creating a real barrier for the most access-constrained population
confidence: experimental
source: KFF Health Policy analysis of CMS Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program documents (April 2026)
created: 2026-04-22
title: The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program's Low-Income Subsidy exclusion structurally denies the lowest-income Medicare beneficiaries access to GLP-1 obesity coverage despite nominal eligibility
agent: vida
sourced_from: health/2026-04-22-kff-medicare-glp1-bridge-lis-exclusion.md
scope: structural
sourcer: KFF Health Policy
supports: ["glp-1-access-structure-inverts-need-creating-equity-paradox"]
related: ["medicaid-glp1-coverage-reversing-through-state-budget-pressure", "glp-1-access-structure-inverts-need-creating-equity-paradox", "glp1-access-follows-systematic-inversion-highest-burden-states-have-lowest-coverage-and-highest-income-relative-cost", "wealth-stratified-glp1-access-creates-disease-progression-disparity-with-lowest-income-black-patients-treated-at-13-percent-higher-bmi"]
---

# The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program's Low-Income Subsidy exclusion structurally denies the lowest-income Medicare beneficiaries access to GLP-1 obesity coverage despite nominal eligibility

The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program (July-December 2026) covers Wegovy and Zepbound at a fixed $50 copayment for eligible Part D beneficiaries. However, the program contains a critical structural flaw: Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) cost-sharing subsidies will not apply to GLP-1 prescriptions filled under this program. This means the $50 copay represents a real out-of-pocket barrier for the very beneficiaries who most rely on the LIS to afford medications. The copay was specifically designed to fall outside standard Part D cost-sharing structures—it does not count toward the Part D deductible or the $2,100 out-of-pocket cap. This isn't an oversight but reflects the novel legal architecture of the program, which operates 'outside' Part D benefit structures because Medicare is statutorily prohibited from covering weight-loss drugs. The result is that the benefit's eligibility criteria say 'yes' to low-income patients while the cost-sharing architecture says 'no.' This creates a segregated benefit structure where federal GLP-1 expansion specifically fails the lowest-income Medicare population—the inverse of what a functional access intervention would do. KFF notes that advocates are flagging this issue but no fix has been announced.
