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April 15, 2008, 3:37 pm
Flag as Inappropriate gbyrd  

What would be the point of having insurance if when you had to take extremely expensive meds the insurance company hit you with an unbelievable co-pay payment? Well that’s what insurance companies are moving towards.

Instead of having a fixed cost of say 20 to 40 dollars, now many insurance companies are changing to a percentage plan.

From the New York Times:

Instead, they are charging patients a percentage of the cost of certain high-priced drugs, usually 20 to 33 percent, which can amount to thousands of dollars a month.

The system means that the burden of expensive health care can now affect insured people, too.

No one knows how many patients are affected, but hundreds of drugs are priced this new way. They are used to treat diseases that may be fairly common, including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, hepatitis C and some cancers. There are no cheaper equivalents for these drugs, so patients are forced to pay the price or do without.

Insurers say the new system keeps everyone’s premiums down at a time when some of the most innovative and promising new treatments for conditions like cancer and rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis can cost $100,000 and more a year.

But the result is that patients may have to spend more for a drug than they pay for their mortgages, more, in some cases, than their monthly incomes.

More

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/us/14drug.html

This seems unbelievable to me.

Wow, thank goodness my insurance company hasn't switched to this type of policy yet.

I know of a particular country when some companies offer full health coverage, while others offer a 20/80 plan for prescription drugs where the patient pays 20% and they pay 80%. Sometimes it is still too much for persons to pay.

Chemotherapy treatments are very expensive. Sometimes a person can be charged over $15,000 for one treatment. Cancer drugs that a person has to buy in a drug store can run over $2,000 a month.

Even with insurance how can people afford this? Many hospitals and oncologists do their best to find the right insurance companies for their patients so they'll be able to afford their treatments and meds.

I know someone with Leukemia who needs a shot that costs $7,000 a month. When the insurance company refused to pay after so many shots and financial assistance got harder to find, they stopped getting treatment. Unfortunately, this type of decision happens often. More pharmaceutical companies are also finding ways to protect their patents on name brand drugs which prohibits the production of lower cost generics. In my opinion it's the rich just wanting to get richer at the expense of those in need.

Yes I know my prices have soar on my co-pay as well and it makes it tough anymore. This is got to be real tough for people on a fixed income.