Commitment versus shipment cadence — the plan structure that hides fees
A GLP-1 plan has two separate schedules: how you pay (monthly billing versus prepayment) and how medication ships (monthly, in batches, or as one multi-month supply). Marketing usually quotes a monthly-equivalent price that reveals neither. Before enrolling, get four numbers in writing: amount due today, number and frequency of payments, medication shipped per shipment with months represented, and what you still owe if you cancel mid-term.
The four structures in the wild
Captured programs show all of these: month-to-month billing with monthly shipments (e.g., Mochi's reported structure); full prepayment with the monthly figure as an arithmetic equivalent only (e.g., NexLife's 3-, 6-, and 12-month plans — $1,740 due today is the real 12-month semaglutide number, $145/month is the division); prepaid bundles reported as non-refundable (e.g., Henry Meds' reported 6- and 12-month bundles); and prepaid plans with an introductory first month that doesn't represent the ongoing rate (e.g., the Hims & Hers $49-first-month pill plan, then $99/month). None of these is inherently bad — but each answers "what do I owe today, and what if I stop?" differently.
Where medication supply enters
Paying monthly does not guarantee monthly shipments, and prepaying does not guarantee the full supply arrives up front. Whether you receive one vial representing several months or several separate vials changes the beyond-use-date math, cold-storage burden, and what's at risk in a shipping failure. The commitment calculator turns any plan's numbers into due-today, total-commitment, and per-month figures.