Memphis adult obesity against Shelby County, TennCare's covered-with-prior-authorization benefit, posted per-week clinic pricing, and the city's primary-care shortage map, every figure sourced.
42.1% of adults inside Memphis city limits have obesity in the CDC's PLACES place-level estimates (2025 release, 2023 survey data) 1. Shelby County, measured in that same release, comes in at 39.7% 2. The city core carries 2.4 points more of the burden than the county that contains it, and because both figures come from one release the gradient is a real comparison rather than an artifact of survey years.
That gradient matters because access in Memphis is not distributed evenly either. What follows is who pays, what local clinics post, and where the care actually is.
Tennessee is one of a small number of states whose Medicaid program covers GLP-1s for obesity. TennCare added Wegovy and Zepbound as covered obesity-management agents effective August 1, 2025, with prior authorization required 8. Prior authorization means the drug is on the benefit but not automatic: your prescriber submits clinical documentation, typically covering BMI and related conditions, and the plan approves or denies before the pharmacy can dispense. Approvals are also time-limited and get re-reviewed.
If you are a TennCare member and you clear prior authorization, that benefit is your cheapest path and we will say so plainly. Full coverage detail sits on the Tennessee GLP-1 hub. This page is written for the other two groups of Memphians: people who are not TennCare members, and members who were denied at prior authorization or not renewed at re-review. For both, the question stops being coverage and becomes cash price.
The pricing that is public locally is quoted per injection, not per month. Cordova Weight Loss posts semaglutide at $60 to $130 per week depending on dose, from 0.25mg through 2.4mg, and tirzepatide at $75 to $125 per week from 2.5mg through 7.5mg, plus a $50 office visit 11. At four to five injections a month, that per-week structure works out to roughly $260 to $560 per month before the visit fee, and it rises as your dose is escalated, which is the normal direction of a titration schedule.
The other two providers we checked publish nothing. Germantown Aesthetics lists no GLP-1 prices and requires a complimentary consultation to learn cost, and Metro Med Health's semaglutide and tirzepatide page carried no pricing as of our August 2026 check 1213. Two of the three Memphis-area providers we looked at, in other words, will not tell you the number before you book.
Astra's pricing is the same in every state we serve: compounded semaglutide from $68 per month and compounded tirzepatide from $118 per month on 12-month plans, or $145 and $250 per month when billed monthly. There is no local price list, no regional surcharge, and no state-specific discount.
That is a monthly, posted figure, and it does not change when your dose is escalated. It is also not a Memphis rate: the same number applies in Nashville, in Dallas, and everywhere else we operate.
HRSA's shortage-area records show six Memphis neighborhoods with active low-income primary-care HPSA designations: Frayser/Raleigh and North Memphis/Hollywood at a score of 21, plus South Memphis/Orange Mound, Whitehaven/Westwood, Oakville/Parkway Village/Fox Meadows, and Macon-Mullins Station, with scores ranging from 17 to 21 and roughly 277,000 residents inside them 7. Higher scores signal greater shortage. Those are the parts of the city where primary care is thinnest, and they overlap with where chronic disease burden is heaviest. Memphis' uninsured rate is 13.8% and median household income is $52,679, both from the 2024 ACS one-year estimates 56.
Hospital-system programs do exist. Methodist Le Bonheur runs Weight Management and Wellness clinics and Baptist operates the Memphis Weight Loss Center 910, but they are concentrated at a handful of sites, which means a cross-town trip for anyone in Frayser or Whitehaven without a car.
That is the specific gap telehealth closes. With Astra, a licensed provider reviews your intake usually within 24 hours, medication ships overnight in discreet packaging, there are no clinic visits and no crossing town, you can message your care team at any point in treatment, and you are only charged if a provider prescribes.
Astra's provider group and partner pharmacies are licensed to serve patients in Tennessee, Memphis and the rest of Shelby County included. Tennessee's telehealth statute, its compounding rules, and the TennCare coverage detail are all set out on the Tennessee GLP-1 hub.
Astra treats patients in Tennessee through state-licensed physicians.
Yes, for obesity, with prior authorization, effective August 1, 2025. Both are listed as covered obesity-management agents, but your prescriber has to submit clinical documentation and get approval before the pharmacy can dispense, and approvals are re-reviewed. If you are a TennCare member and you qualify, that benefit is your cheapest option. The full coverage detail is on our Tennessee GLP-1 hub at /glp-1/tennessee/.
Local clinics commonly sell each injection rather than a monthly course, so the posted number is per shot and rises with the dose. Cordova Weight Loss, for example, posts semaglutide at $60 to $130 per week and tirzepatide at $75 to $125 per week, plus a $50 office visit, which lands around $260 to $560 per month. Astra prices per month instead, and the price is flat at every dose.
On the published figures, yes. Cordova Weight Loss posts semaglutide at $60 to $130 per week by dose, roughly $260 to $560 per month before its $50 visit fee. Astra's compounded semaglutide is $68 per month on the 12-month plan. That is a national price rather than a Memphis deal, and it is the same figure everywhere we operate and at every dose.
Possibly, but only under federal compounding conditions. Since FDA declared the semaglutide shortage resolved, a state-licensed US compounding pharmacy generally may dispense compounded semaglutide only for an individual patient whose prescriber documents that a change from the FDA-approved product makes a significant difference for that patient under Section 503A. Eligibility is a clinical determination and availability is not guaranteed. The full state rules are on our Tennessee GLP-1 hub at /glp-1/tennessee/.
No. Tennessee law lets a licensed provider establish the provider-patient relationship and treat by telehealth with no prior in-person visit (Tenn. Code Ann. Section 63-1-155). The statute and its conditions are summarized in the telehealth section of /glp-1/tennessee/.
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Educational information, not medical advice. Treatment requires evaluation by a licensed physician.