avastin & insurance bill

clamryn said:

OMG
Oh my. I knew it was high but I had no idea. I haven't seen my bill from my first infusion. Now you have me curious as to what mine will be. My COBRA cost me $594 a month but I gladly pay it to be covered.

clamryn said:

Insurance
Yes it is high. COBRA is what they offer you when you leave your place of employment. You have the option of continuing the coverage just as if you were still employed but you have to pay for the coverage as the employer would and they also tag on 102% for doing the paperwork. However, you only get to have it for 18 months after termination. I received an extra 11 months (extension due to going on disability). This will take me to the point where I will then be covered by Medicare. It was a very good thing when they changed COBRA and added the 11 months on to carry a person through so that there would be no lapse in coverage.
I feel so sorry for the people that lost their jobs during this recession and can't afford to pay for their healthcare. So many people are suffering.

nancy591 said:

insurance
Linda, that sure would be a financial hardship for most people.

My husband works for NYS so he has excellent insurance. I'm not sure what his cost for the insurance is. It started out quite expensive but drops 10% every year of employment. After completing 10years of service it is free for the family. His healthcare contracts with well known cancer centers. If you use these cancer centers there are NO out of pocket expense for any services you receive there. I even get reimbursed for mileage, tolls, parking, food and lodging. Mileage is .27 cents per mile, tolls, parking and food are paid for by saved receipts. I haven't had to use lodging. If I chose to fly to one of their contracted cancer centers in another state they would pay airfare as well as ground transportation. If you don't use one of their 'centers of excellence' you have the standard out of pocket expenses.

Luckly, prior to being diagnosed, we purchased cancer insurance through my husbands employer as well. I get reimbursed from them each time I receive chemo, mileage and hospital stays. I think I get $250 each time I get chemo, $300 night for hospital stays (thank God I've had no stays in the last 2yrs) and I think I get .50 cents a mile travel.

Having this coverage has allowed me to quit my job and spend whatever time I have left with my family. My kids were ages 3 and 5 at time of diagnosis.

lindaprocopio said:

People think I must be lying when I say what my chemo costs.
I have my own business and private insurance, so there is no volume bargaining like when you are a part of a group policy. I also live in a low income/elderly population region where there are many uninsured and many others on medical assistance programs. So the hospitals have to "get it where you can" to subsidize the charity care, etc. My oncologiust said their policy is to mark up drugs 300% to private insurers. "Yield management" is the business term, kind of like the airlines or hotels where each unit is sold at whatever the market will bear.

Soooo: they billed my insurance $30,200 for EACH Doxil infusion I had (with my insurance getting them down to only $24,000@). For EACH Nuepogen shot they bill my insurance $1700 (with my insurance paying $1200 each). My insurance pays $22,000 for the PET/CT scans I get every 3 months. I have had 2 Avastin infusions and haven't seen the bill yet, but I was warned that it would be in the $100,000 range per month.

I pay $1500 month for my insurance premiums for my husband and me; and have a $7,500 annual deductible that I pay before my insurance kicks in that I have paid now in January of 2008, 2009, 2010, & 2011. Thank God I am able to afford this, although I'd sure rather have a swanky new car and an in-ground pool! But my insurance has always paid and never turned me down for anything my oncologist suggested except the Clinical Trial. I have had to scan and email my bills to prove these charges to friends because they are so UNBELIEVABLE. But true.

So there is plenty of blame to go around in the healthcare debate. The hospitals and clinics gouge when they can; the insurance companies up their rates when they can. And in spite of it all, somehow we get excellent healthcare.

Hissy_Fitz said:

Don't get me started....
Health care should NOT a privilege, reserved to those who have either the means to pay for private insurance, or employer provided benefits. People on organ transplant lists get booted off the list if they lose their insurance (unless they can pay a $100K cash deposit). How can anyone make a case for that? Obviously, if you are so sick that you need an organ transplant, you will become too sick to work, at some point. Unless you have been on disability long enough to qualify for Medicare (2 years), or have a spouse whose employer provides coverage, you are pretty much screwed. Same thing goes for cancer.

Not everyone is out to suck the last drop of blood from their patients, though. My neighbor was recently diagnosed with OVCA. She had Secure Horizons (an alternative to Medicare) and the doctor she was referred to (my gyn/oncologist in Texas) was not in their network. He agreed to treat her anyway. Many hospitals - some by law and some by choice - provide indigent care to patients who cannot pay.

Medicine in general, and cancer in particular, is big business. I would urge anyone who does not have spousal insurance coverage to be pro-active and look ahead to what will happen if you lose your job through cut-backs, bankruptcy, buy-out, etc , have to give up your job due to poor health, or other possible scenarios. SS Disability is a given if you are Stage III or IV, but you have to be disabled for 2 years in order to qualify for Medicare, and in many states you have to be disabled to receive Medicaid. If I did not have Disability/Medicare now, I would apply for it ASAP, because I am in remission and my medical expenses are not so high that they would bankrupt me.

There was a time when people could save up enough money to pay for their own medical costs. The hospital bill when I was born was $50 (and they kept my mom and I for 10 days). No one can do that now. No matter how responsible you are, unless you are very, very wealthy (as in millions of dollars in savings), some corporate or government entity will have to contribute if you need treatment for cancer, or an organ transplant, or other catastrophic illness. Otherwise, you won't get it. Plain and simple. And you will die. Americans should not die for lack of affordable health care. It is unconscionable. We are the richest country in the world, and we should be ashamed of ourselves for not taking better care of our most vulnerable citizens: our sick, our elderly, and our children.

Carlene... (climbing down off her soapbox now)