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What is your humira co-pay or total Cost?

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 4/3/2009 7:02 PM (GMT 0)
going to be starting Humira, working with Medical group and Insurance to get apporival now. Probably going to take a few weeks..for TB test and Hepatitus Vaccine etc before starting.
What should I expect as far as copay should my insurance decide to cover it? and if it doesnt how much does the medication cost?
Posted 4/3/2009 8:15 PM (GMT 0)
In Canada it costs about $800/injection. Luckily my insurance pays for it.
Posted 4/3/2009 8:30 PM (GMT 0)
My co-pay is $20 per 2 pen box. The receipt from Walgreens says something like my insurance saved me $1500.
If your insurance doesn't cover it (and if they balk have your doctor write a letter to them for you) I'm sure the drug company has assistance to help pay for it.
Posted 4/3/2009 9:17 PM (GMT 0)
how scary is that...to need a medication because your body has failed to respond to everything else...and your insurance may not cover it and you most certainly can not afford it...WOW only in America
Posted 4/3/2009 9:45 PM (GMT 0)
I pay 40 dollars for a 3 month supply....
Posted 4/3/2009 9:54 PM (GMT 0)
My insurance pays for mine. Normally I would be paying $35, but with the copay assistance humira program I don't pay anything for at least the next 4 months.
Posted 4/3/2009 9:54 PM (GMT 0)
Check the Humira Website, they have assitance programs. After insurance , my co pay would be $180 a month. I am glad that I went on it, it is working!
Posted 4/3/2009 11:57 PM (GMT 0)
The co-pay varies widely depending on the type of insurance plan. I have Tricare and paid $9.00 for a month's supply purchased through an approved pharmacy. If I had used my insurance mail order plan the cost would have been $3.00. Recently another member was asking about assistance because his co-pay was over $300.00 a month. I believe that Humira works out to about $1300 to 1400 a month without insurance. Remember that the initial loading dose is 4 injections which might cost more under some plans.
Posted 4/4/2009 12:15 AM (GMT 0)
My copay per month is $35. Like others have said, it varies based on how much your prescription coverage is.
Posted 4/4/2009 9:08 AM (GMT 0)
-0-

doc2007, only in america? come on , you cant get it some countries at all because its deemed too expensive. you must use the approved cheaper meds. ask how many of the people here have a heck of a time to even get it let alone have insurance cover it.
Posted 4/4/2009 3:56 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah right - believe me its not just in America.  In South Africa the cost works out to approx. R160 000.00 - (+- US$16000.00)  per year for Remicade (Revelex) and the medical aids will not cover the costs.  They approve Crohns as a chronic disease, but will not pay for either Remicade or Humira - Crazy !

We are busy with a case at the moment and its just sad that at the end of the day one's health and healing can be dependent on finances.  I am still trying to work out what will we do if the final decision is rejected. 

Is there other medication to go on or not? 

shocked

Posted 4/4/2009 4:09 PM (GMT 0)
what concerns me the most is this is it for me...The other drugs I have used for 15 years no longer work...so (shrugs shoulders) What am I to do I cant afford a crazy copayment or to cover the total cost.
Posted 4/4/2009 9:37 PM (GMT 0)
I get Humira for free through their patient assistance program. Thank goodness, because it's been a very good drug for me.
Posted 4/4/2009 9:43 PM (GMT 0)
 I was told when looked into it...that my 20% ( which is what I pay on out BC/BS Federal Plan) prescription cost that I would pay $ 850 per 2 pack of the pens. So needless to say with having no income and still waiting on SS to decide something, I had to pass on that.

 

Remicade I paid $250 as a copay....but cant take that.

 

Posted 4/4/2009 9:58 PM (GMT 0)
Actually, Anniegetyourgun, the remicaide cost then is WAY cheaper in Africa than in the US. Here I think people pay $10,000 or so PER INFUSION, not yearly. It is ridiculous any way you slice it, I'm just saying that the overall cost there is cheaper. Are medical aids federal health plans? Is there private insurance available? Just curious.

Randy - from what I have followed on these boards is that biologics are not forbidden to crohns patients in countries w/ socialized medicine but rather you have to see a specially trained specialist to prescribe them and they are reserved for the most sick patients. Shouldn't that be the way it is done!!! Not every crohns patient needs biologics. So far I don't. But if I was that ill I would hope I was seeing a doctor trained not just as a GI but as a crohns specialist who was intimately familiar with prescribing biologics. I think it would take away any worry about drug reps using incentives to get doctors to overprescribe. Do you ever wonder if there are people just diagnosed and put on the "big guns" that might have responded to some of the less harsh LESS EXPENSIVE treatments? Call me a cynic but I think sometimes they may be over prescribed. While I agree that "only in America" is an overbroad statement, we most certainly don't have it perfect either.
Posted 4/5/2009 1:13 AM (GMT 0)
I paid nothing for my Humira.  My prescription covered it, and my co-pay was paid by Humira, they sent me a card in the mail with up to 2000 dollars on it to go towards my co-pays.  If I didnt have the card my co-pay would have been 20 dollars for 2 pens.

Posted 4/5/2009 4:29 AM (GMT 0)
yeah i know fitzy, i was just taking exception to the blanket statement.:0)..i wonder too though that if the treatments were found to work why not start out with them and maybe prevent surgeries, complications and such.. but what you said about the 'only the sickest" get the drugs, thats very scary to me and others. do you want a government to decide if your sick enough? not me.
Posted 4/6/2009 12:17 AM (GMT 0)
$20???? $35????? This is blowing my mind. I pay $160 per 2 pens and the price keeps going up. This is INFURIATING. Especially for a company that took over 6 months to approve me, simultaneously approving and rejecting me. I had no idea other people paid such low prices.

My Remicade, because it was an in-hospital treatment, didn't cost my anything in copays, most likely because I am covered under a primary and secondary insurance plan.


But $20??? Jeeeeez I wish I had that.
Posted 4/6/2009 4:03 AM (GMT 0)
I pay $40 for a box of 2 syringes. I'm now on weekly doses, so I pay $80 or so a month to be on it. I am applying for help with the copay through the Humira patient asst plan, though. With DH unemployed, and going to weekly injections, $80 is a chunk of money for us. If they have help, might as well look into it. *shrug*
Posted 4/6/2009 4:30 PM (GMT 0)
mkl11, I'm with you...how is everyone getting it so cheap?  My normal co-pay would be $200 for a 3 month supply but I currently am getting part of this paid for through the Co-Pay Plus program through Humira.  They are changing the program, though, so I am waiting on my new card to find out how much it will cost me.  Right now, I am supposed to be paying half of the co-pay for a few more months, then it was supposed to go to full price.  Those of you who are paying "normal" co-pays like $25 - $40 should consider yourselves very lucky.  I supposedly have very good insurance through UPS and it still costs $200 for 3 months (or $100 a month, if I only get a one month supply at a time).   

Posted 4/6/2009 5:07 PM (GMT 0)
I pay $35/month as co-pay and my insurance covers the rest. One thing I will mention, recently I mistakenly injected myself the wrong way and lost 1 injection. My doctor was on the phone with them for over an hour arguing because my doctors order never mentioned "Human Error" or maybe my insurance doesnt cover human error (I have United Healthcare). The insurance refuse to cover it and wanted me to pay $1400 for it. Luckily my doctor had an extra one in his office that he was able to give me. Its something to look into incase you ever have any problems. I later learned that Humira would have provided me with one for free, this is after my doctor argued with the pharmaceutical rep. Good luck.
Posted 4/6/2009 6:57 PM (GMT 0)
I pay $375 for a 90 day supply.  My rx plan covers me at 80% of the cost of the medication until I hit a max of $375 per refill.  So, I pay the max every time.

Oh...BTW...I work for an insurance company too.  confused

Posted 4/6/2009 9:57 PM (GMT 0)
I have to pay a $300 deductible and that's on KAISER!  I am getting my first injection today.

Posted 4/6/2009 10:44 PM (GMT 0)
LisaBL: In that instance you probably could have called Abbott Labs. They will send you one free replacement due to "human error." I recently traveled with my medication but did not do so properly and was told by Abbott Medical Info I couldn't use the meds. They said if my insurance (also United HealthCare) couldn't do an "override" (and they wouldn't) they send you a replacement one time. If you get in that situation again I'd definitely give them a call.
Posted 4/8/2009 3:08 PM (GMT 0)
Doc2007 not only in USA that's for sure! Here in Brazil a box with 2 pens costs around U$$3500.00, so as I have not won the lottery yet... The thing is, no health insurance here pays for Humira, no one at all, not even 10%, so if you need it, you better prepare yourself to either sue your insurance or the govern and of course you have to spend some money on it!
Abbott has a program here that they give you the treatment for 3 months and then you have to follow one of the options that I gave above.
The govern is putting Humira on the list os meds that they will distribute free of charge to people, but this take a very long time, it is already approved for Rheumatoid Arthritis, so I believe it is just a matter of time to be approved for Crohn's, I know that Remicade is already approved.
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