I used to pay 0 per month for my Enbril. We have new insurance and it is now going to cost me 5.
OUCH!!
I thought you dropped your biologic and was trying out the naturopathy doc. Did something not work out right or is my memory the same as it always has been....CRUDDY!!!!!
I am on humira and pay .00 a month for it. My insurance does not cover my injectable mtx but that is only .00 a month anyways for the preserative free stuff and only .00 a month for the stuff with preservatives. My needles are 25 cents a piece.
i am going to be starting enbrel i was wondering if anyone else is on this and if they have health partners. i would be bummed if they didnt accept it. or i had to pay more than my copay
kel
you could try contacting the maker of enbrel and see if you qualify for their assistance program. If they are the same as Humira is there is a few different programs that you can try and get qualified for. It might be worth giving them a call at least so see what other options you may have. Or ask your dr i think at least w/ Humira they have RX cards that the drs have.GrammaSkittles
I am still on the Mercola Optimal Wellness Program. However, I did NOT stop my meds. The meds were just not doing it for me. Since I started the program I have reduced my "cocktail" down to Imuran and Enbril. I was able to drop the Planquenil and I am off the Prednisone.
I am working with my Reumy as well. I am impressed with your memory!!
Hi, I pay 0 a month for Remicade (hope to reduce the amount and frequency of 'infusions', though. I have a deductable and going into the 'donut', so my husband says I'll continue to pay.! Booooo. SarahLOL!! I am glad someone is impressed with my memory!! There are days I certainly am not.
I am glad that you have been able to drop the meds that you have. I hope that one day you will also be able to drop the imuran and enbrel as well. I think it's great that you have a rheumy that is working with a natural approach. I feel that more rheumy's need to do that with us to open our options of treatment.
zero...for reasons I don't understand there's no co-pay for Humira even though I usually pay - co-pays for other meds. I'm not complaining, of course.
Alan
I pay co-pay, should be paying co-pay(medicaid) but I have yet to get my medicaid straightened out. But oh well, not costing the state money, but wish I did not have to pay the co-pay.
For a months supply which is 2 boxes the cost is 39.43
GenaRogers, are you doing Dr Mercola's metabolic type diet? It sounds likeI've been taken off of it now; but when I was on Humira I only had to pay for a months worth of Humira. 4 injections anyway. I took it weekly.
I have BCBS and they have been really great with my expensive medications. I wouldn't have been able to take it without the coverage.
I have approval for it already....through thhe regular pharmacy two shots would be , but if I went through mail-order for Humira, it would be for THREE months.I know my Humira alone was over 00 a month. I don't make much more than that. There's no way people can pay for these medications without assistance.
My humira is 0 for 3 months, I take it weekly. However, I take MANY other scripts as well and my insurance premium just went up to 6 a MONTH!!!Sickening how expensive the ra meds and other meds can be.
The grand total we spend out of pocket a month for meds...drum roll please....5.00 And I wonder why I never have any extra money. Our insurance premium is 2.00 per month.
My copay for humira would have been 6.00 for 2 shots. My doc gave me a card from the manufacterer that is good for 6months and they pay my copay. After that, I don't know what I will do. I won't be able to afford which sucks because it really is starting to help me especially with my energy and stiffness. My other meds co pay run or co pay. I have to pay 0.00 for the meds I am on plus our premium taken out of my hubby's ck is 0.00 a month. US HEALTHCARE SUCKS!My copay for enbrel is .00 for a three month mail order supply. I have really good insurance, so good that I'm continuing to work primarily to pay for the meds. Without the insurance, it would be ,000 a year for the enbrel alone.
I work on a contract basis, so have no health insurance through work. My insurance has just gone up to 0 a month with a 00.00 deductible.
I paid 50 for Embrel last month (and it didn't work) My RD switched me to Humira which costs about the same, but I get 0 off the price through Abbott Lab's assistance program.
My insurance provides a small discount on drugs, but injectibles don't count. What I've been out on the Embrel and Humira will go against my deductible.
I am fortunate in that I have a good job. (As long as I'm able to keep doing it!--I'm hoping I can hang in there until I go on Medicare)
Others are not so fortunate.
Humira 3 months CoPay . I was at the pharmacy the other day, picking up my meds, when the woman in front of me burst into tears. Her son had a serious infection, his antibiotics were 0. She couldn't pay it. She said, "What do I do?" She tried to buy just a couple of pills, but that's dangerous, and the pharmacist wouldn't do it.
GUYS!!!! IM THE WORST HERE CAUSE REMEMBER MY COUNTRY HAD A TERRIBLE FINANTIAL BREAKDOWN IN 2002 AND WE EARN PESOS INSTEAD OF DOLLARS SO, 1 DOLLAR IS 3 PESOS.
AND I AM PAYING 1200 DOLLARS A MONTH FOR MY HUMIRA !!!
MULTIPLY THAT FOR 3 AND NOW IMAGINE HOW OUR HEALTH SYSTEM IN ARGENTINA SUCKS !!!HEHEHE
IM GONNA DIE POOR IF I HAVE TO KEEP ON THIS TREATMENT...HAHA
Wow, what a difference in insurance companies and location..I pay 5 per visit (every 6 weeks) out of pocket for my Remicade and the hospital bill for each visit is over ,000!!!
I am looking into having the infusions at my doctors office (they are now offering it in the clinic) to see if the cost will come down. Waiting for approval for that. And we actually have what is considered good insurance ! ha
My insurance does not cover any of the infusion drugs. So I just keep praying and keeping the faith that the humira keeps on working for me.
They come up with these great meds that no one can afford and it is so frustrating
Here is a link for prescription assistance for rheumatology related drugs. Hopefully one of these will be able to help someone here. http://www.rheumatology.org/public/acrast.asp?aud=pat
I can't stand that Enbrel commercial lol. Just inject yourself with this drug and you will be horseback riding in no time!!!! Please raise your hand if you are out horseback riding this weekend after your enbrel shot lol. Yeah... it is not as bad as the Enbrel commercial.My insurance covers the entire cost of my Enbrel
I really hate the Humira commercial! It basiclly yells at you to when you going to do something about your RA. THe Enbrel commercial is misleading making a person think they will be able to do anything....this is not always true as well all know. THe one commercial I appreciated, not sure whether it was one by Enbrel or Humira, which gives a visual of a woman walking with her daughter through the years. One time without the drug, the other with the drug. Although I have mixed feelings about it, it does show a good point about RA in what RA can do to our bodies .....the physical stature and function and that is something that people really need to know. jode Oh, and I was one of those individuals who fell through the medicinal cracks of life. No insurance due to being so ill and not being able to work. However, after using Minocin then going to Enbrel my blood work did come back reasonable and with a SED rate of 2.I was thrilled, still in pain, still feel the fatigue on many days, change in weather is a killer on me but my blood wortk has improved. SO who knows what would have happened had I still been able to be on Enbrel. I may be incurring erosions as I write,or perhaps I am in remission and always will be. Until my blood work comes back abnormal and I should happen to be prescibed on Enbrel again ( through patient assistance of course) we will never know. It is a scary disease and the price of meds are absolutely horrible. As I read all these posts I can see that only those individuals who continue to work and have good insurance or a caring RD are able to even take the meds needed. I am with those who state that the pharmaceutical companies make way too much money off of ill people. But there isn't anything we can do about it. jode
much TV).grammaskittles:
hahahaha....well, if they included a butt load of demerol in with the Enbrel maybe...then again the horsey's dunna like me that much. I get on and they look up and say "...so now what ya think you are gonna do?..." hehehehehe...
BTW, to the OP. This is a good thread more so because it helps remind the people with insurance how lucky (and yes they are lucky) to have the insurance.
As I had JRA I already knew I could never get coverage when I started my own business. And to a degree I have saved for some Tx's. But that was never with an eye to it costing in the ,000+ range annually to treat the disease. I am lucky in that I can cover most of the costs and they are deductible. But, only to a point.
My biggest frustration over the costs has already been pointed out...why are we funding the HUGE cost of advertising these medications? It has to add a factor of at minimum 400% to the cost per dose of the medications. They run these ads 1000s of times daily. Given the relatively small number of patients on any given RA medication this advertising is truly preventing people from getting proper care.
I have never agreed with allowing medications to be advertised anyway. And now given the ability of people to research online about their conditions, diseases & medications there seems to be little reason to continue to allow such advertising. It serves zero purpose in improving our health care options and only drives up the cost of treating the disease which then pretty much eliminates anyone w/o insurance from the possibility to get insurance.
This goes for so very many medications. But for some reason they really seem to advertise RA medications...that is very, well, weird.
But as I said, excellent thread as I feel is might help some who are a bit frustrated to realize it could always be worse...much worse.embril cost me 1.00I pay nothing for my Humira and I have insurance. I used to pay .00 for a 3 months supply. They just started a program where the drug company pays your copay for 6 months and then you pay half of the copay the next six months for a 3 months supply. So I will just pay .00 for the year!!
Sarah
I have done the humira program when I first started it. It is a one time only deal. Believe me, I have tried a 2nd time lol.
That commercial that Jode is talking about...i sent away for the stuff you can get for free. And guess what it was. Yup, adverts for the drug companies!!!! Sigh. The commercial is good for showing what can happen if you do not do something about your RA.
I wish we didn't have meds adverts here in the States. Some of them really are false advertising.
I pay a .00 copay for the infusion medications as long as they are done in the doctors office. If done in a hospital setting it is 20% up to a max of 00.00. Its been a while since I've been on an injectable so I'm not sure of the current cost. It used to be about .00 for 90 days.
Grammakittles, you might recheck your insurance policy. Most infusion meds are covered because medicare covers them. They are usually part of your medical policy under chemotherapy not your drug policy
[QUOTE=kelsaysmommy]OMG Mili!! Is there a way that you can get assistance from the manufacurer? I dont know how that works since your in a different country but you should contact them and see if you are able.[/QUOTE]
i have ensurance! but the thing is is an imported medication so i have to pay it..
Every two boxes of Humira they give me one...so itīs fine ...but my copay is 1200 dollars so is not like a normal copay cause i have ensurance. The things is that my ensurance doesnt cover it all (only 50%).
I had some trouble in january when i come back from the States to find Humira here so i tried calling Humira in the States and they were ashamed with the people that works for them in Buenos Aires. I couldnt find the drug anywhere and i was suppossed to have my injection so i said to them that i was going to write a letter to the local newspaper and say that Abbott laboratories doesnt take care of its clients...and it worked...cause they sent me a free Humira box hehehe
but as you see my country is a mess luckily i am a lawyer haha
Like the OP from the UK we pay nothing for biologics however for oral tablets it depends you can either get them for free if you are a low earner or a pensioner or if you are employed we have to pay about .00 per prescription drug.Hi, I'm new to this forum. I've had severe RA about 18 years, I've never been in remission. Not quite sure what people mean by that. It has effected most of my joints, both feet, knees, back, hands, ect. For years I could not afford anything thing. I was almost totally bed fast two years, feed up I went to Mexico and bought prednisone and lived on that for last 15 years. I couldn't afford any medical so I adjusted my doses myself and lived with it. I have so much joint damage now I need several major joint surgeries. Two years ago a dr finally told me that Humira would help with the cost, and they completely covered the cost. It however left me with all the dr office calls and blood work bills. Our state came up with some new insurance for people with such as pre existing conditions, low income, and self employed. I got on it for a month and they cover my medicines for a copay, but the insurance caps out at ,000. My Dr says by the time it pays for all my med there won't be enough left to have my knee surgery (bone on bone) having to drain and cortisone it every 3 months, feet about the same shape. Humira helps a great deal, but dr said it isn't holding it. He said a few like me that Humira and those drugs will not hold it, and it will continue to progress.
I was on a trial drug before Humira, haven't seen it on the market yet. They just told me it was basically same as Humira and Enbrel except a pill form. I learned a lot from trial drugs. Don't believe that all the side effects are listed. They told me what to expect, which the side effect me and 3 others expierenced out of the 10 in this area was not listed and ignored. It accutally worked pretty good but a real hassell taking pills 3 times a day, and the constipation was incredible for the entire 7 months. Almost went to the emergency room 3 times, but couldn't afford it (that was why I was on the trial drug to begin with) which you sign your life away with. I know they gave me an EKG every time I went in so that tells me they thought it might effect the heart. In case of a disaster they pay absolutely nothing, you are left with all medical bills if something goes wrong.
Straykitty,
How terrible for you. Where are you from? If it's the USA why then can't you get some medical assistance to help with the drugs you need and the operation after you cap at the 75k?
I don't understand how, in this great country, we can leave one person without any medical help.
If your doctor knows that you won't have the money for the surgery after you pay for the drugs perhaps he/she will do it gratis? Yeah, sure....Very sad.