A plain-language guide · Question cards · Houston
Bring questions.
Get clear answers.
For a Houston visit, in a room or online: ask about the medicine, how your health will be checked, and the full bill before agreeing to care.
Open the visit checklist
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What happens at the first visit?
Keep this checklist beside the offer.
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Who will review my health?
Get the full name of whoever will review your health. Will a nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or doctor review your case? Get their Texas licence number, then use the source cards to check it.
In Texas, physician assistants and nurse practitioners need a doctor’s signed written agreement to write prescriptions, as of September 2026.
If they name either of those roles, ask which doctor oversees their prescribing. A clinician means the health professional reviewing your case.
As of September 2026, a first Texas online visit can use live video or a later review of your health records or images.
Ask whether you will speak to the clinician or send information for them to read later.
As of September 2026, Texas requires an online clinician to provide the same level of care as for that service in person.
Ask how they will get enough information about your health to decide on treatment, and how you can ask questions.
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What information is needed?
Bring a list of medicines and supplements, past care, and the health goal you want to discuss.
Ask whether an exam or tests are needed, who arranges them, and who explains the results.
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Why this medicine?
Ask for its exact name, the reason for using it, and the options besides it. Ask what would make it a poor fit.
If it is compounded—made to order—ask what need an approved product cannot meet.
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Who answers after the visit?
Get a plan for questions, follow-up, and care if a problem occurs.
As of September 2026, Texas requires the clinician to explain what care you need after a first online visit.
After a first online visit, a report must reach your regular doctor within 72 hours if you agree and have one, as of September 2026.
What can the medicine cost?
Use a dated drug-price example, then get a quote for your own care.
Semaglutide (Ozempic) injection cash-offer example, as of September 2026.
$199 a month for the first two months of medicine, as of September 2026.
For each monthly supply after the first two, the prescribed amount sets the price at $349 or $499, as of September 2026.
The introductory offer is for new cash-paying patients and only certain prescribed amounts, as of September 2026.
The cash offer runs through December 2026; ask whether you meet its patient and prescription rules.
Cash-paying means paying outside insurance. This is a medicine charge, not a quote for a visit in Houston.
This offer does not reduce an insurance deductible—the amount a plan makes you pay first—as of September 2026.
Source note BGet the bill in parts
An offer is easier to compare when each charge has a name.
- Visit and follow-up
- What is due at the start? What repeats?
- Medicine
- Is it included or charged on its own?
- Tests
- Which ones, where, and at what charge?
- Delivery and supplies
- Are there extra charges?
- Membership
- What is the regular price after an offer? How is it canceled?
- Pausing or stopping
- Are unused fees refunded? When does billing end?
Ask for the total in writing. Compare the same set of services, not just the headline price.
Will insurance pay?
Ask the plan about the medicine by name and why it has been prescribed.
Ask whether the plan must agree to pay before the pharmacy provides the medicine. That step is called prior authorization.
Ask what your share is, and whether visits or tests have separate charges.
Medicare’s regular drug benefit, as of September 2026, does not cover medicine prescribed solely for weight loss.
Medicare may cover the medicine for a qualifying purpose other than weight loss, as of September 2026. Treatment of type 2 diabetes is one example.
Each plan still decides whether it will cover the medicine.
Ask your plan whether the reason for your prescription qualifies and whether it pays for that exact medicine.
As of September 2026, eligible people can get certain weight-loss medicines through the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program for $50 a month.
The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge begins in July 2026 and ends in December 2027; eligibility is limited to certain people, medicines, and medicine forms.
Ask Medicare or the person writing your prescription to check your drug plan, weight, and health history for the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge.
Source note CSource notes
- Government price record · Semaglutide (Ozempic)
The cash offer has terms; the opening price does not describe every refill.