The subscription mechanics: renewal cycles, prepaid terms, and the charge that beats the calendar
A subscription billed every 80 days isn't quarterly, and one billed every 332 days isn't annual. Both renew inside the calendar period their name implies — five times and twice respectively in a 365-day year — and both are written into a real seller's published terms. The renewal cycle, not the headline price, is where a GLP-1 subscription usually costs more than you planned.
What this comes down to
- A cycle named for a calendar period but shorter than one renews more often than the name suggests. Eighty days renews five times in a year; 332 days renews twice.
- Fifteen of the 1434 priced lines across the sellers we review advertise a figure lower than the one that recurs, across 8 of 387 sellers.
- Eighteen sellers we review price a one-time charge that is not medication and not a membership — two of them a cancellation fee.
- Federal law requires a simple mechanism to stop recurring charges and a clear disclosure of material terms before your billing information is taken. It does not cap how often a cycle may renew.
- An 80-day billing cycle5
- A 332-day billing cycle2
The cycle that beats the calendar
Lemonaid Health publishes the clearest example we have found, and it publishes it plainly rather than hiding it. Its extended commitment options for weight-loss services renew every 80 days for the quarterly option, every 160 days for the bi-annual option, and every 332 days for the annual one, with payment due in full and in advance[1].
| What the plan is called | Days per cycle | Charges in the first 365 days |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | 80 | 5 |
| Bi-annual | 160 | 3 |
| Annual | 332 | 2 |
The arithmetic of a cycle named for a calendar period. Renewals counted inside the first 365 days from signup.
A true quarter is about 91 days, so an 80-day cycle renews four times and then a fifth time before the year is out. A 332-day cycle renews once inside the year and then bills again at day 332, a month before the anniversary most people would have diarized. Nothing here is concealed and nothing is unlawful. It is arithmetic that the plan name works against.
The same terms say the extended options supply medication for 12, 24 or 48 weeks — 84, 168 and 336 days. Each billing cycle is four days shorter than the supply it covers, so the next charge lands just before you run out. That's sensible for continuity of medication. It's also why the charge arrives sooner than the plan's name predicts.
The commitment that survives cancellation
A per-month figure can be an installment on a fixed obligation rather than a charge you can end. Calibrate Health sets an initial term of three months, bills it in installments across those three months, and then states that it does not provide refunds once a term has been paid or a waiver of any unpaid installments during the initial term[2]. Canceling in month two stops the service, not the obligation.
That structure is the single biggest driver of price spread in this market. 88 seller-and-molecule groups across the sellers we review carry three or more different prices for the same drug, and on the compounded side 215 of 272 of those price lines name a plan term in the seller's own label[4]. The cheap number is nearly always the long number.
The trial that converts, and the promotion that lapses
Zealthy describes both patterns in one clause: a trial membership converts automatically into a paid one unless canceled first, and where a membership carries a promotional fee, it is charged at that rate for the relevant number of billing periods and then continues to renew automatically at the full, non-promotional rate[3]. Both are ordinary. Both mean the number you agreed to is not the number you will be paying by the third charge.
We count that pattern across every seller we review rather than anecdotally: 15 of 1434 priced lines advertise below what recurs, spread over 8 of 387 sellers. The four mechanics that produce it are worth reading once and then recognizing forever.
The charges that are not the subscription
Eighteen lines across the sellers we review are a one-time charge that is neither medication nor a membership, including two cancellation fees[4]. They are worth seeing written out, because a cancellation fee is the one charge a reader never budgets for.
| Seller | How the seller writes the line | Published charge |
|---|---|---|
| Cost Plus Drugs | standard shipping per order | $5.25 |
| TelePeptide | cancellation fee | $25 |
| KERNX Health | first-month consultation fee | $25 |
| Nova MD | cancellation fee | $25 |
| Lean Rx | shipping per single shipment | $35 |
| Care Clinics | booking deposit, credited to package | $40 |
| eMed | application and screening, one-time fee | $49 |
| MD Exam | initial consultation fee | $50 |
| LaSara Medical Group | starting hormone panel, one-time testing fee | $69 |
| Breeze Meds | phone or video consultation fee, charged only if you decline treatment | $80 |
| Vita Bella | one-time consult | $99 |
| PrescribedRX | Initial general health assessment, one-time fee | $99 |
| Nava Health | Nava Vitality starting payment, one-time | $199 |
| Virta Health | Virta starter kit initiation, one time | $250 |
| Marek Health | guided optimization entry booking, one-time fee | $299 |
| Nava Health | Nava Foundational Assessment, one-time diagnostic fee | $299 |
| Marek Health | comprehensive laboratory panel, starting fee | $450 |
| TeleSlim Clinic | genetic testing, one-time fee | $499 |
Every one-time charge across the sellers we review, in the seller's own wording.
On top of those, 61 lines across 45 sellers are a recurring fee billed separately from any drug, 56 are a per-visit charge, and 2 is billed once a year. What a membership actually buys covers the recurring ones in full; the calculator is what adds them to a medication price.
What the law requires of any of this
The Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act makes it unlawful to charge a consumer online through a negative option feature unless the seller clearly and conspicuously discloses all material terms before obtaining billing information, obtains express informed consent before charging, and provides simple mechanisms to stop the recurring charges[5]. A cycle length is a material term. How long that cycle is, is not regulated.
The FTC's 2024 click-to-cancel rule, which would have added specific requirements, is not in force — revised in February 2026 to conform to federal court decisions, with a fresh rulemaking opened in March 2026[6]. So the statute above is the floor, and the terms document is the ceiling. What those terms say about getting money back is the other half of this page.
How many days are in the billing cycle, not what the cycle is called. What the rate becomes after any promotional period. Whether the term you are agreeing to can be ended, or only stopped. All three are in the document you are being asked to accept, and none of them is usually on the pricing page.
Questions people actually ask
Why was I charged again before my year was up?
Check how many days are in the cycle rather than what the plan is called. One seller's published terms renew its annual weight-loss option every 332 days, which falls inside a 365-day year, so the second charge arrives about a month before the anniversary.
Is a quarterly telehealth plan really every three months?
Not always. One seller's terms renew the quarterly option every 80 days, and a calendar quarter is about 91. Over a year an 80-day cycle produces five charges rather than four, which is a real difference in what the plan costs annually.
Can I cancel a prepaid GLP-1 plan and stop paying?
It depends on the document. One seller's membership terms commit you to a three-month initial term billed in installments and state that there is no refund once a term is paid and no waiver of the unpaid installments. Canceling ends the service without ending the obligation.
Do telehealth companies charge a cancellation fee?
Two sellers we review publish one as a priced line, which is why we record it as its own kind of charge rather than folding it into a membership. It is uncommon, and it is the charge readers are least likely to have budgeted for.
Sources
Primary sources and the claims they support.
- 1.Terms of Service. Lemonaid Health, 2026. Source · Document dated May 2026Extended commitment period options for weight-loss services that automatically renew every 80 days for the quarterly option, every 160 days for the bi-annual option and every 332 days for the annual option; payment due in full and in advance; supply of medication for 12, 24 or 48 weeks of treatment; and membership fees charged in advance of the period they cover and non-refundable once paid.
- 2.Membership Terms and Conditions. Calibrate Health, 2025. Source · Document dated October 2025An initial term of three months billed in installments over those three months, automatic renewal into subsequent one-month terms, and the statement that the company does not provide refunds once a term has been paid or a waiver of any unpaid installments of fees during the initial term.
- 3.Subscriptions, Cancellations & Refunds Policy. Zealthy, 2025. Source · Document dated July 2025A trial membership that converts automatically into a paid membership unless canceled beforehand, and a promotional fee charged for a set number of billing periods after which the membership continues to renew automatically at the full, non-promotional rate.
- 4.The Telehealth Graded price record. Telehealth Graded, 2026. SourceThe counts of advertised-versus-actual gaps, one-time charges, recurring fees, per-visit charges and plan-term labeling are counted from the site's own price records and from the censused charge-kind map the cost calculator uses.
- 5.15 U.S.C. §8403 — Negative option marketing on the Internet. Office of the Law Revision Counsel, United States Code, 2026. Source · Document dated September 2026The three conditions a seller must meet to charge a consumer online through a negative option feature: clear and conspicuous disclosure of all material terms before obtaining billing information, express informed consent before the charge, and simple mechanisms to stop recurring charges.
- 6.Negative Option Rule. U.S. Federal Trade Commission, 2026. SourceThe rule's own page listed a Federal Register notice dated February 12, 2026 revising the Negative Option Rule to conform it to federal court decisions and an advance notice of proposed rulemaking dated March 13, 2026 as its most recent entries, so the 2024 click-to-cancel rule is not in force.
Key figures