Just finished reading this.
29 November 2019
08 November 2019
$31,748.92 a Month
I was diagnosed with myeloma (bone marrow cancer) in December 2015. In March 2016, I began taking daily chemo pills called Revlimid.* (Along with monthly shots and a bunch of other treatments.)
When I began Revlimid, I tried to find out how much a monthly dose cost. My insurance company wouldn’t say, and neither would my doctor. The best I could determine was that it cost about $14,000 a month.
I got a report from my insurance company this week that lists of all my medical services for the first three quarters of 2019. My monthly chemo medication costs exactly $31,748.92.
$31,748.92 EACH and every month for nearly the last four years. It’s the drug I need to keep my cancer under control (keeping in mind that myeloma has no cure).
$31,748.92. I can hardly imagine an amount of money that high. This contributes to the amount of money my insurance company has spent for my health care so far this year (just over $300,000.00).
There is no way I could afford this medication without insurance. There is also no way I could afford the insurance I need without help from the Affordable Care Act. It contributes to my monthly premium allowing me to afford an insurance that covers my husband and me – especially me.
Who has $31,748.92 lying around for monthly chemo drugs?
When I read the monthly cost of my drugs, I felt sick to my stomach that I was costing my insurance company so much. I mean, whole families survive on that amount of money or less a year, and here I am popping drugs to keep my cancer at bay.
As I have said many times before, if the Affordable Care Act is ever done away with, I will have no way to get my medication. None.
(*Revlimid is a brand drug. There is no generic. That’s at least in part because the company that makes it, Celgene, refuses to release drug details to allow other companies to make generic versions. Gee, I wonder why...)
When I began Revlimid, I tried to find out how much a monthly dose cost. My insurance company wouldn’t say, and neither would my doctor. The best I could determine was that it cost about $14,000 a month.
I got a report from my insurance company this week that lists of all my medical services for the first three quarters of 2019. My monthly chemo medication costs exactly $31,748.92.
$31,748.92 EACH and every month for nearly the last four years. It’s the drug I need to keep my cancer under control (keeping in mind that myeloma has no cure).
$31,748.92. I can hardly imagine an amount of money that high. This contributes to the amount of money my insurance company has spent for my health care so far this year (just over $300,000.00).
There is no way I could afford this medication without insurance. There is also no way I could afford the insurance I need without help from the Affordable Care Act. It contributes to my monthly premium allowing me to afford an insurance that covers my husband and me – especially me.
Who has $31,748.92 lying around for monthly chemo drugs?
When I read the monthly cost of my drugs, I felt sick to my stomach that I was costing my insurance company so much. I mean, whole families survive on that amount of money or less a year, and here I am popping drugs to keep my cancer at bay.
As I have said many times before, if the Affordable Care Act is ever done away with, I will have no way to get my medication. None.
(*Revlimid is a brand drug. There is no generic. That’s at least in part because the company that makes it, Celgene, refuses to release drug details to allow other companies to make generic versions. Gee, I wonder why...)
01 November 2019
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