Doctor-guided GLP⁠-⁠1 care for Illinois

Yes. You complete a short medical intake online, and a doctor licensed in Illinois personally reviews it — no video visit needed (you can book one if you want it). If treatment is appropriate for you, your prescription is filled by a licensed US pharmacy and shipped overnight to your door anywhere in Illinois. You don't need to visit a clinic to start treatment.

Our semaglutide program starts at $112/month (once-daily oral drops) or $135/month (weekly injections). Tirzepatide starts at $169/month. The price includes the medication itself, your doctor visits, ongoing medical supervision, and overnight refrigerated shipping. There is no membership fee, and the intake and your doctor's first review or visit are free: you pay nothing until you choose to start medication.

Not at this time. We charge one all-in monthly price with the medication, doctor visits, and shipping included, so there is no prior authorization. HSA and FSA cards are accepted at checkout, and we provide itemized receipts and a Letter of Medical Necessity on request.

Compounded semaglutide (the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic), available as once-daily oral drops or a weekly injection, and compounded tirzepatide (the active ingredient in Zepbound and Mounjaro) as a weekly injection. Tirzepatide injections may contain nothing added or a B vitamin; semaglutide injections contain a B vitamin. Your doctor recommends the medication, form, and dose that fit your health history and goals.

James Simmons, MD, our medical director, is licensed in Illinois and board-certified in emergency medicine (ABEM). He personally reviews your intake, meets with you over video when either of you wants a visit, and supervises your treatment over time.

All of Illinois. Care is fully online and medication ships overnight statewide, so care is the same whether you're in Chicago, Aurora, Joliet, Naperville, or a town without a weight-management clinic nearby.

Not through Gentle Health. We do not bill Medicare, Illinois Medicaid or private insurance, and everyone pays the prices shown on this page. To pursue coverage instead you would need a provider who accepts your plan and prescribes a medication it covers — the FDA-approved brands, not a compounded preparation. Where each programme stands:

1. Illinois Medicaid: Not covered for weight loss — the Preferred Drug List carries GLP-1s only in the antidiabetic class. Illinois does require its State Employees Group Insurance Program to cover medically necessary injectable medicines for weight loss in adults with obesity, prediabetes or gestational diabetes, but that statute, 5 ILCS 375/6.11C, names only that program.
2. Medicare: Coverage may still be possible through the federal GLP-1 Bridge: a $50 copay for Wegovy, Zepbound or Foundayo through December 31, 2027, for Part D enrollees with a BMI of 35 or more, or lower with specific heart, stroke, artery, blood-pressure, kidney or prediabetes conditions. Type 2 diabetes, moderate-to-severe sleep apnea and MASH are covered through regular Part D instead.

No. The Illinois Telehealth Act (225 ILCS 150) sets no in-person-exam precondition and expressly recognises asynchronous store-and-forward review — transmission of a patient's medical information that does not require real-time interaction — as a telehealth service. It requires the same standard of care as an in-person visit, and an Illinois-licensed professional.

Illinois is specific about this. The label must state that the prescription was specifically compounded in the pharmacy for you at the direction of your prescriber, a nonresident pharmacy's toll-free pharmacist line must be printed on every container shipped to an Illinois resident, and any compounded medication shipped off-site must travel in temperature-controlled containers.