What in the world do the uninsured do?
Picked up my medications today, including Neupogen, which is supposed to help alleviate the recent spate of anemia.
The new shot: It's strictly for the anemia. Check these prices out: Neupogen, about $900 a month; PEGIntron, bout $1,500 a month; and Ribivarin, about $900 per month. My copay was about $80.
I thank God for good insurance! I guess those that don't have insurance just get sick and die.
Grace and peace ...
The new shot: It's strictly for the anemia. Check these prices out: Neupogen, about $900 a month; PEGIntron, bout $1,500 a month; and Ribivarin, about $900 per month. My copay was about $80.
I thank God for good insurance! I guess those that don't have insurance just get sick and die.
Grace and peace ...
4 Comments:
Hi Buzz,
Enjoying your blog! I'm a 47 year old woman diagnosed with hcv about 6 months ago - just did shot #5 on Friday (19 to go, have genotype 3a). Have incredibly supportive family and friends (and good insurance plan), so am fortunate to have a great deal of help getting through this. That makes such a difference!
I wish you success on your journey and will be following your blog. Thank you for sharing!
Sue, Toronto
Hi Buzz
You were asking on my blog if we have to pay in the UK for our medications ........ the answer is no - all medical services are free to the patient. That's the good news... but there is a downside. Pegasys & Copegus are the recommended and accepted treatment drugs - so patients won't be presribed PegIntron or other brands. And it isn't likely I would be presribed Neupogen as quickly as you have been - it would be free, but not freely given - to characterise the distinction between the two systems!
But both these systems are more benificent than in some countries. A recent Comment on my blog came from a young woman in Mauritius asking about the price of HepC drugs. Her brother is infected - and there is no systematic medical help for them or means to acquire the drugs for treatment. I found that hard to read and think about ...
All the best
Ron
Ron,
On the woman in Mauritius: That is hard to think about. I know when we go to Guatemala for medical mission trips, we get the sense that we are emptying the ocean with a bucket. There is so much need, and I really have to wonder about the costs; do they really need to be that high?
Incidentally, three more weeks or so and I get the viral load checked. It's really odd when people say, "So, in 12 weeks your treatment will be through?" To which I reply something like, "No, if I'm blessed I'll get to do 48 weeks."
Talk about your paradox!
Sue,
Isn't it great to have a well-developed support system in place so you do not have to worry about, "Who can I talk to about this?" I really hurt for some of the people I have run across in the past four years who have suffered greatly with depression, a sense of doom, etc.
Grace, peace and healing to both of you,
PastorBuzz in Tennessee
Good question. Answer is: who cares.
My family has to buy our own insurance. All we can afford is a policy with a $12,000 out-of-pocket limit, which we hit last year and aren't able to pay off this year. Next month our policy is due to lapse, as I'm unemployed and can't pay the premium. We'll keep making token payments on our medical debts until our house sells, then we'll pay them off. We pray that nothing catastrophic hits, because the only options then are no medical treatment or bankruptcy.
I believe God will take care of my family somehow, but the health care industry in the US is, to understate the situation, a scandal. And no one in a position to do anything about it seems to care. Decades ago the Democrats cared about the little guy. Not any more.
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