Just over half of current GLP-1 medication users in a U.S. survey said they worry they may have to choose between paying for treatment and saving enough for retirement.
The Harris Poll research for Nationwide Retirement Institute found 51% of current users expressed that worry. Some also reported changes they attributed to medication costs: 17% said they had taken on debt, 14% had withdrawn from savings or investments, and 14% had reduced retirement contributions or investments.
At the same time, 88% of current users said the medication made them more optimistic about their long-term health, and 64% said they might retire later because they felt healthier. Those are respondents' expectations, not evidence that the drugs will extend working lives or reduce future care costs.
Among users whose medication was not fully covered by insurance, the average reported out-of-pocket cost was $203 a month. Nearly six in 10 current users said they worried about affording the medicine in retirement, according to the survey.
Harris conducted the online survey for Nationwide from July 20 to Aug. 4, 2026. It included 1,933 U.S. adults, including 509 current GLP-1 users and 364 former users. Participants came from people who had agreed to take Harris surveys, and results were weighted on demographic and other factors. Harris reported a 95% Bayesian credible interval of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points for the full sample, with greater uncertainty for subsets such as current users. The findings are national and self-reported, not clinical outcomes or a Finger Lakes estimate.
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