The Denial Playbook: GLP-1 Edition · $99 one time

Your plan said no. That was the first answer, not the last one.

Eight modules, two bonus modules, 18 letter templates, and the Letter Builder. Built on the plans’ own published criteria and the federal appeal rules. Lifetime updates.

Nine payer criteria documents read in full 60-day refund We tell you when your appeal will not win
WHAT YOU ARE ALREADY PAYING One month of Wegovy, self-pay $349 This course, once $99 Twelve months at that price is $4,188. One month covers this three times over.
Manufacturer self-pay prices verified June 2026 and subject to change. Check the manufacturer’s own site.
What you are holding

You have read the letter four times

It says the request “does not meet the plan’s clinical criteria,” and it does not say which criteria, or what would satisfy them, or who decided. You called and got one answer. You called again and got a different one. Your doctor’s office says they sent everything. Somewhere on page two there is a deadline you have not calculated.

Meanwhile the pharmacy quoted you $449 a month.

And underneath all of it is the question nobody will answer: is this worth fighting, or should I just pay?

Thirty seconds, before anything else

First: can your denial even be appealed?

Not all of them can. If yours is one that cannot, we would rather tell you that here, for free, than sell you a course that will not move it. Pick whichever line sounds most like the reason on your letter.

The method

Why most appeals fail

Most first appeals are a letter explaining how much the medication matters. That letter cannot be answered, so it gets denied.

What moves a file is different, and it is mechanical. Your plan has a written criteria document. It lists numbered requirements. Your denial named one of them. The appeal that works is the one that quotes that criterion back, attaches the document that satisfies it, and does the reviewer’s job for them in ninety seconds.

01

Get the rulebook

The plan’s own written criteria document. On a self-funded plan, asking for it is a right under the federal claims rules rather than a favor, and almost nobody uses it.

02

Answer the rulebook

Quote the numbered criterion your denial cited, and attach the record that satisfies that exact requirement. Not a story about why the medication matters.

03

File it with proof

Where it goes, before the deadline, in a form that leaves you holding evidence you filed it. Then the follow-up call, two weeks later, with three specific asks.

That is the whole method. The Playbook is that method written out, with the letters already drafted and every deadline in one table.

Eight modules, two bonuses

What is inside

01
How the money actually works

Manufacturer, PBM, plan, pharmacy. Why your employer, not your insurer, is often the one who said no. Fully insured versus self-funded, and how to find out which you are in one phone call.

02
Diagnose your denial

The 18-code taxonomy, the plan-type determination, the deadline computed and calendared, and the triage decision. Plus how to spot the denial that is not a denial at all, which is a claim-processing error and takes days rather than months to fix.

03
Your rights, by plan type

Four clean tracks so you read only yours. Every deadline, the expedited criteria, and external review explained as the leverage it actually is.

04
Get the plan’s own rulebook

The document request, with the letters written. On a self-funded plan this is a right under the federal claims rules, not a favor, and almost nobody uses it.

05
Build the evidence file

Weight history, comorbidity documentation, prior therapy, and where to find proof you did not know you had. Plus the indication conversation with your prescriber, handled correctly.

06
Work with your prescriber

The one-page ask that gets a yes, what belongs in a letter of medical necessity, and how to request and prepare a peer-to-peer review so your doctor does not take the call cold.

07
Write and file the appeal

Letter anatomy, the Letter Builder, filing mechanics, proof of filing, and the follow-up scripts.

08
Escalate and win

Second level, external review, Medicare’s higher rungs, the state insurance complaint, the employer escalation almost nobody makes, when to hire an attorney, and what to do if you lose.

B1
Keeping it

The renewal denial that arrives after the medication works, why it usually applies the wrong criterion, and how to preempt it 90 days out.

B2
Cash pay and assistance, honestly

Manufacturer direct pricing, savings cards and who they exclude, copay foundations and their eligibility trap, open enrollment strategy, and a clear-eyed look at where compounded products currently stand.

The AI tools

One of them refuses to do what you might ask it to

Free forever

The Denial Decoder

Reads your letter and gives you the structured read: what your plan decided, which of the four systems governs you, your deadline as a real date with days remaining, and an honest assessment of whether the case is winnable. It is free, and it stays free.

In the course

The Letter Builder

Drafts your appeal from your inputs and the correct template. One thing about it is worth stating plainly, because it is a design decision rather than a limitation: it will not invent a clinical fact.

If you have not given it a diagnosis, a date, or a prior medication trial, it writes a visible bracket in the draft rather than a plausible guess, and it will refuse if you ask it to make something up.

It also shows you a table listing every clinical claim in your letter next to the input that authorized it. That is not caution for its own sake. An appeal containing something your records do not support is insurance fraud, and it is also the fastest way to lose a case you could have won.

What we can show you today

Every rule in this course is cited to healthcare.gov, the eCFR, CMS, KFF, or a plan’s own published criteria, with the date we verified it. We read nine payer criteria documents in full to build it. Every page carries a last-updated date. There is a public changelog.

What we will not show you

A win rate. We do not have audited outcome data, and any number we printed would be marketing rather than evidence. When we have real customer results and their permission, we will publish them unedited, and we will say plainly that individual results vary.

What it costs

Next to what you are already paying

What you are comparingCost
One month of Zepbound self-pay, higher doses (verified June 2026)$449
One month of Wegovy self-pay (verified June 2026)$349
Twelve months at $349$4,188
A patient advocate, four hours at $150$600
Claimable, one AI appeal letter, per case~$50
The Denial Playbook: GLP-1 Edition$99

One month of what you are already paying covers this three times over. If it moves your coverage for a year, it paid for itself forty times.

Get the Playbook, $99
If money is genuinely tight, read this first.
The guarantee

60 days, and we will not ask whether you won

If you do the work and it does not help, we refund you in full.

“Do the work” means one thing: you ran your letter through the decoder and completed the Module 2 triage worksheet. Send it, or just tell us your triage result, and ask.

We will not ask whether you won. We will not ask you to prove you filed anything. And we will not refund based on outcomes in either direction, because tying a refund to whether an appeal succeeded would be a promise about results that nobody can honestly make.

Read this before you buy

Who this is not for

You want someone to do it for you

This is a course. You do the filing, under your own name. If you want done-for-you, hire a patient advocate; expect $100 to $250 an hour, and it is often money well spent.

You want help saying something that is not in your medical record

We will refuse, in the course and in the tools.

Your only question is how to pay less cash

Bonus Module 2 covers that, but you do not need a $99 course for it. Go to the manufacturer’s site and check the current price. Really.

You have not read your denial letter yet

Run it through the free decoder. You may find your answer there and not need this at all.

You want a guarantee that you will be approved

Nobody can sell you that. Anyone who does is lying to you.

Your plan excludes the category outright

Run the thirty-second check above. Your appeal probably will not win, the course says so directly, and we would rather you knew that before you paid rather than after.

Questions people actually ask

Before you decide

Why would I pay for this when free tools exist?

Some free tools are genuinely good. Counterforce Health is a nonprofit and it is free. Claimable runs about $50 a case. Both will produce you a letter. What they do not do is tell you which of four systems governs you, get you the plan’s own criteria document, prepare your prescriber, handle the renewal denial a year from now, or tell you when your case will not win. If a letter is all you need, use the free one. We mean that.

My plan excludes weight-loss drugs entirely. Is this useless to me?

No, but read this carefully. Your appeal probably will not win, and the course says so directly. What the course gives you is the employer escalation (your employer wrote that exclusion, not your insurer, and they revisit it every year), the indication conversation with your prescriber, open enrollment strategy, and the full assistance landscape. If that is not worth $99 to you, that is a reasonable call. The free decoder will still tell you the truth about your case.

Will you write my appeal for me?

The Letter Builder drafts it from your inputs and you review, complete, sign, and file it. We do not file anything and we do not represent you.

Is this medical or legal advice?

No. It is consumer education about a coverage process. Clinical questions go to your prescriber, and the course says so every time one comes up. Where a situation genuinely needs a lawyer, the course tells you that and names the type.

I’m on Medicare. Does this apply?

Yes, and Medicare has its own track in Module 3 with its own deadlines and vocabulary. It also covers the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, which runs through December 31, 2027, has a $50 copay, does not require a Part D denial first, and has no appeals process at all. Most people have not heard of it, and its criteria are measured at the time you started therapy rather than today, which matters a great deal if you have already lost weight.

What if I already appealed and lost?

Module 8 is the escalation ladder: second level, external review by an independent organization whose decision binds the plan, the state insurance complaint, and the employer route. Most people stop after one denial. The ladder goes further than that.

My deadline is in nine days.

Start with the free decoder right now for the date and your route, then Modules 2, 3 and 7. The rest can wait. If your prescriber’s office is the bottleneck, Module 6 is the one that unblocks it fastest.

Do I need my doctor to cooperate?

It helps enormously and Module 6 is about making it easy for them to say yes. On Medicare Part D exception requests the prescriber’s supporting statement is genuinely required. On most other tracks you can file yourself with records attached.

What if the rules change after I buy?

Lifetime access includes updates. When a formulary moves or a rule changes, the course changes. There is a public changelog so you can see it happening. This category has changed at least four times in the past year, which is exactly why that promise is worth something.

Is my uploaded letter kept anywhere?

No. It is processed and discarded. We do not train on it. The privacy policy says the same thing in more words.

Can I really get a refund?

Yes, 60 days, on the terms above. It is a real policy, not a hurdle.

What if I cannot afford $99?

There is a hardship page with free access, no documentation required, and we approve by default. The decoder and Module 0 are free and are not a teaser. Use them.

The whole decision

Your plan denied you and expected you to stop

Because almost everyone does. Fewer than 1 in 100 denied claims is ever appealed. That is the single most important number in this entire category, and it is not a statement about how hard appeals are. It is a statement about how few people try.

You have a deadline, and it is a real date, and it is closer than you think.

60-day refund  ·  Hardship access here  ·  The decoder costs nothing and will tell you whether you have a case worth fighting.