HELP! Humira and Remicade questions

Ok, so I just found out today that my Medicare "coverage" disqualifies me for Humira Patient Assistance and leaves me with a $4000+ deductable which I cannot even REMOTELY cover. So, yeah. No more Humira for me.

I'm freaking out because:

#1 I was given the loading doses in the hospital last month, and sent home with the booster pack which I administered two weeks later. Does this mean that I am going to have to pay out of pocket for those doses since my insurance doesn't cover this? OHMIGOD. I'm NOT looking forward to getting THAT hospital bill.

#2 I've started the Humira. I don't even know if it's working, or if the Prednisone is just skillfully hiding symptoms. What would be the side effects, if any, of starting this drug and barely even getting my foot in the door - so to speak - before stopping it?

#3 My doc and I felt that the Remicade wasn't working, but I didn't have any "bad" or "adverse" reactions to it. Would it be safe, do you think, to maybe try the Remicade one more time and just hope and pray that I haven't developed antibodies? My last infusion of Remicade was on April 2nd of this year. My last Humira shots were on August 22nd. Should I give the Humira time to get OUT of my system before I try to put the Remicade back IN?

Does anyone have any experiences that might help me here? I'm grasping at straws.

Can you appeal to your insurance for them to cover it? Maybe a letter from your doctor might help. I know I am not much help, just trying to throw some ideas to you. (((HUGS))) and Good Luck!!

Oh, spiders, that's just wrong that you're being put in this position. Medi"care" - what a misleading name.

I've no advice, but lots of hugs and good wishes.

I.

Thanks for the responses guys.

I have two options in the works, one is appealing to Medicare, but my initial phone consultation for that process did NOT go well. My part "D" coverage prescription provider said that they won't pay until my out of pocket expenses reach $4050 and I fall under their "catastrophic" coverage clause. Catastrophic - I call this situation pretty darn stinking catastrophic, but my opinion doesn't count for much.

And gail, even though I stopped the Remicade in April - the flare that put me in the hospital was in August - a full 4 months later, and it was partly caused (they think) by the pregnancy and miscarriage that I went through last month. So, I didn't have an "allergic" or "antibody" reaction to my April treatment - it just didn't help my symptoms much so we stopped... and then I got pregnant to boot, but everything went fine for the first 9 weeks or so of the pregnancy before everything hit the fan... that's what I meant by no bad side effects directly from the Remicade.

On a more hopeful note: The Patient Access Network Foundation that was kind enough to pay for my Remicade last year is MAYBE going to consider switching that assistance over to Humira. The lady at PANF said that she would fax the letter to my Doc that just required him to state that my treatment has switched and that Humira is now the drug that I need help with. I'm not holding my breath, but I may have found a way to keep getting the Humira. Regardless, anyone reading this that is having trouble getting or paying for their crohn's meds - ANY crohn's meds - you have a possible night in shining armor in the Patient Access Network Foundation. Their website is easy to find if you want to check it out. I'm tempted to make a separate post so that people will see this part... Oh, and PANF is completely SEPARATE from all the drug companies - so, even though I didn't qualify for Remicade through Centicore, or Humira through Abbot, this foundation is STILL AN OPTION. Maybe it can help others.