Epipen

1) I think it grabs headlines because it is a lifesaving medication. Remember the AIDS drug that was raised and the outrage last year.

2) there were more competitors and now the competition is limited, then they raised prices without increasing any additional benefits. It is price manipulation.

3) most people can relate to allergies in their everyday life. Now a days you'll see announcements on menus, schools, planes, etc about allergies and the dangers for people who are deadly allergic.

4). A majority of the people effected by this are children.


I'm sure there are many more reasons.

you are assuming a lot of things K - just because you have a child with issues, doesn't mean you gat a huge bank account along with those issues - just because you can afford to have that kind of money, doesn't mean everyone does - many folks can barely afford the insurance, let alone the deductible -

i honestly don't know how all this insurance stuff is working for impoverished folks these days - but i can only guess that it doesn't solve all of their problems -

and it's hard to equate a maintenance drug with something like an epipen -

I can't afford much myself. I've never had any financial support from my family and I don't make much money. I don't own a home or a car... but I've learned to make due. Many people have different priorities, like owning cars, homes, traveling, having multiple children, having stuff. The system needs reform for sure, but my point is that, many people have problems, not just people with allergic reactions & not just people with children. I wish there was more awareness for the rest of us. I guess the reason I've been able to stay afloat, and put money aside for medical expenses, is likely because I don't have children - but that was a conscious decision I made for this exact reason.

It makes a dramatic news story, a 400 percent increase, for a few days in the news cycle and then they move on to the next outrage and it's forgotten.

The cost of copays for medical procedures and medications are things in our face frequently, due to us being chronic illness patients as we are using these health policies to the fullest. However, many rarely need medications or to see a doctor so while they're outraged by the increase it doesn't directly effect them, they don't care, forget, etc. Where as the majority of us chronic patients cringe at the bills, copays and have to cut back elsewhere in our expenses (tough choices sometimes), sometimes carry debts of varying sizes just to be well. Sucks.

It's going to take a lot to get something passed and past the lobbies of interests vested in the profits of the status quo. It's unsustainable as is, so I think common sense has to prevail eventually. Regardless of ones political stance, I wish the demagoguery could be taken out of healthcare politics, that they'd get experts together and just solve it. Other countries have, but once again the mighty USA full of innovative minds say it's impossible lol.

It's systematic affecting epipens, humira, and everything. The big thing the ACA didn't tackle head on was outrageous prescription medication prices, and dramatic increases to them. Currently the gov cannot negotiate prices but they have a lot of power if they were to do so.

Verucasalt2.0 said...
No need to justify yourself NSSG, you made smart, responsible decisions for yourself. Kids or no kids, people don't always do the responsible thing. In a nutshell, people can be stupid. On the other hand, not surprisingly, a sizable portion of bankruptsies in this country are due to medical expenses. Apparently, gofundme.com is a healthcare plan. 😒 Yes, the system definitely needs reforming, ACA is a start but we got a long way to go. These things don't happen over night.

I've noticed the gofundme thing lately too. I don't get it. People with insurance asking for money for medical expenses and some raising over $30,000 for their (or their child's) health issue. How much is your deductible and out of pocket? I can't imagine it's more than $10,000 combined (and that would be high). I think some people are using medical issues as an excuse to get some extra money in their pocket. I am sure those same people would never consider shortening their Disney vacation by a day or two to pay for the deductible themselves - or god forbid drive a cheaper car... Seems like everyone wants everything but no one wants to work harder or give up anything to get these things.

Sadly, the same happens with animal rescue. I used to donate to this one lady and then I found out that she was very questionable - whether she is who she says or takes care of the animals she pictured. It really left a sour taste on my tongue. I haven't donated to any individual in a while because of it. I would still donate directly to the vet office, but not to anyone via any of those other sites.

@ipoop, I'll be the optimistic one this time. We may see a public option before long. I don't see universal healthcare happening anytime soon but perhaps at least a public option. The orange one's big plan is to peddle healthcare policies across state lines. Great, fantastic, we'll all be on policies from states with little to no oversight or consumer protection. That's such an old and tired idea, which is why it never had legs.

@NSSG, yeah, you gotta be careful with the charity stuff. This lady at my work, her kid in Alaska, he got in a bad car wreck. We all chipped in for air fare and a bit of pocket money because she couldn't afford to get up there. 😱 She used the donated money to pay her frick'n Visa bill and this was month's ago. She said she put the money on her card so she could charge a plane ticket when she could go. Big surprise, she hasn't made no trip to Alaska. 😡 I guess gofundme appeals to people who want to help, especially when it's victims of something horrific like a mass shooting or disaster. Sadly, always gonna be jerks who take advantage of people's generosity.

The increase in price for the epipens is news because of the circumstances around it. If you've been truly following, then you know the price went up 400% while Mylan's CEO Heather Bresch had a 600% rise in her salary. It's also alleged that she never finished the course work for her MBA yet was granted the degree. It's the controversy of her shenanigans. She's also the daughter of a US Senator. Two other senators want her company investigated for possible antitrust violations.

Sure, we take expensive drugs and we get insufferable flares but anaphylaxis is no joke. I've seen it happen, had to treat it and the only place I would want to be is in a hospital if it happened but it's unrealistic. The company is taking advantage of consumers because of the delivery system of the epipen. Epinephrine is inexpensive and can be drawn up in a syringe and administered but not all family members or friends would be able to handle drawing up the appropriate dose, especially if it's a pediatric dose and administering it.

Yes, Heather is full of it. I'm not in the loop about Abbvie but it sounds like they're sueing another company for making a humira knock-off? I realize the greed and attempted monopolies that are occurring.

I think the bigger issue is the insurance plans themselves. Think about it, people pay $200 a month for insurance, and then if you have a high deductible, you never get anything paid for. So, you're spending $2400 a year (let's say) and you can't even get an epipen covered. It is outrageous and infuriating. It's not just with epipen though, it's everything. It's the stuff, we as UCers, have been dealing with for years. Affordable healthcare, is a misnomer. It's not affordable. Sure, the premiums sound reasonable, but the actual plan covers nearly nothing. Something needs to be done about that root issue instead of nitpicking this one stupid medication. It's a much bigger problem with the American healthcare system - or lack thereof. We need to insist on better and fight for it until we get it. Changing the price of the epipen won't do anything in the bigger picture.

CCinPA said...
There's only one way that there's even the slimmest hope that anything will change and that's at the ballot box in November. If we stop voting red we might (maybe) have a chance to see a change for the better and then we all can stop seeing red. Sure hope so anyway. I am so grateful that I have insurance through my job. But even that has it's own turmoils. I just spent an hour on the phone with Express scripts because they keep putting high charge on my account for Entyvio even though I have patient copay assistance and only need to pay $50. They did the same thing last month. At least now I will have a 2 month break until I have to deal with this again.

I had an extremely hard time with entyvio's copay assistance. They wanted to pay directly to the hospital that performed the infusion, but they needed forms I had never heard of. The hospital wasn't making it easy either. They basically needed to provide tax forms and all sorts of documentation to entycio to get the payment. It took me literally an hour on the phone 2x a week for 6 months to get it paid. They ended up paying about $700 for me, which was great, and it went toward my out of pocket - but it was very time consuming and really, it shouldn't have required my babysitting to accomplish. Sounds like you've had much better luck.

I also have work insurance, but insurance is not cheap no matter how you slice it. Either you're paying the deductible up front, or you're paying the copays slowly over time. Either way, for me, it means being out about $3,500 over the course of a year, plus the premiums. I'd love to have that money for my "home savings" but it's a cost I've gotten used to losing each year. Since surgery, I've spent almost 0 on health expenses. This year I spent $500 total on my out-of-network deductible. I haven't even been to an in-network doctor. I picked up one prescription - $5 for a cream. $505 is much better than the $5000 I spent last year. Hopefully I don't have to spend much more

NSSG -- between deductibles, co-pays & co-insurance I might hit my max out of pocket this year for the first time ever. My deductible is only $600, but everything has co-pays & or co= insurance. I am going to get my next colonoscopy before the end of the year since I have already met my deductible. And that's without the hospital bills from my stay in July as they are still being processed (hospital sent the bills to the wrong address for insurance).

Veru -- good to know that there are more treatments becoming available! I m pretty optimistic about Entyvio. So far so good. Hard to tell if it's working because I am still on 15 mg of pred (2 weeks to go until I am off!) and I've only had 2 infusions so far. I get my 3rd next week and then it will be every 8 weeks. Doing well though -- down to 1-2x/day most days (sometimes 3) but always formed, no blood. Feeling good!!

@CCinPa, that's great you are doing so well on Entyvio. Here's hoping you stay that way. Because of my psoriasis and arthritis, I think I'd go for Stelara if Humira fails me. I'm hanging in on it OK though.

Between the drug prices themselves , ridiculous insurance premiums, deductibles and co-pays, yeah...it's expensive to maintain chronic illness. 👎😠😟