Drug Costs To Treat MC Will Be Going UP

[tex]

Hi All,

It appears that under the "Affordable Care Act", care won't be "affordable", after all, for most serious diseases, unless we are lucky enough to be living in certain states. The law is written so that States can allow insurers to force patients to pay a much higher share for "specialty drugs" used to treat certain diseases, and that list of diseases is apparently mighty long. You can be sure that it will include MC and other IBDs, and virtually every other disease for which expensive drugs are often prescribed for treatment.

California, for example, will sock it to their residents who are unlucky enough to develop a serious disease, by requiring them to pay 30 % of their drug cost. (Of course, California always seems to be socking it to their residents at every opportunity. ) It remains to be seen whether the rest of us will all be in the same leaky boat, or one that's more or less leaky.

Avalere's research shows that 1 in 4 cancer patients walks away from the pharmacy counter empty-handed when facing a copay of $500 or more for a newly prescribed drug.

"You have to worry about a world where if you happen to contract cancer or multiple sclerosis, you are stuck with a really big bill," Mendelson said.

Drug costs may vary widely across U.S. after health care overhaul

Tex

[Zizzle]

Wow, at least there's an out-of-pocket maximum.

[Gloria]

I wonder if insurance companies will come up with separate prescription insurance, much like Medicare recipients have had to get. The donut hole is the killer with an Entocort prescription. I reach it before my first prescription is completely filled.

Gloria

[DebE13]

Unreal- What makes entocort cost $1,200 to fill vs. prednisone (evil) which is just pennies compared to that? Is it ingredients or supply and demand? I really don't understand our health care system. That is a big reason why I am trying to get off of it even though my D is not under control. Without my health insurance, there is no way I would ever be able to afford it.

[tex]

Unreal- What makes entocort cost $1,200 to fill vs. prednisone (evil) which is just pennies compared to that?

Prednisone was developed back in 1955 by Schering Corporation. Drugs were cheap back in those days, and since prednisone is cheap to manufacture, it has remained a low-cost drug. By contrast, Entocort EC was developed after drug development/FDA approval became expensive, so it was priced much higher. And the price was progressively increased in the last couple of years just prior to the patent expiration (and after the passage of the "Affordable Care Act").

And once a drug sells for big bucks, manufacturers are reluctant to allow the price to fall, even after the patent expires (because that would set a bad precedent, doncha know — some people might think that they had been overcharging in the past), so the drug companies enjoy windfall profits, rather than to lower the price. There is no incentive built into the system (under the "Affordable Care Act") for drug companies to lower drug prices. They are free to price drugs however they please (that's why they were willing to agree to the other aspects of the bill).

Tex