Spiky Bugger
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2014
- Messages
- 6,217
MrSue has RAGING psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. It accompanied his heart attack or the post-attack meds, so an almost 19-year history.
For several years, he and his dermatologist tried to attack it w/various topicals...to no avail. I asked the dermatologist if there were, maybe, more aggressive approaches. There were, but he didn’t like them, so he gave us the names of other doctors.
We went to a really nice doctor who Rx’d a biologic medication, and the games began. Improvement, regression, see-saw...but overall, things were a lot better when he was on Embrel and tanning beds. Then, his body learned to overcome the Embrel and it got worse. So, Humira, but it wasn’t great, so then he changed to Otezla, which didn’t seem to work. So then he added multiple, multiple, multiple twice-a-week laser treatments, which worked, but only for about a week at a time.
But the Otezla hadn’t worked as well as the Humira, so back to Humira.
There are probably other people who have had to deal with this disease. It’s ugly. It’s embarassing. It can—and probably will—show up anywhere on your body. Yup, there, too. And you look like a pink alligator and skin flakes off and you bleed and the skin stuff outside is accompanied by arthritis inside.
Congress does not allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Pharmas charge what they want. The current price for MrSue’s Humira is just under $5300 per month. (Just under $64,000/year.)
We are VERY fortunate, in that our insurance covers 95% of the cost, so we pay $264.87 per month. (Just under $3200/year.)
But you know what? Congress DOES allow the VA to negotiate drug prices. So, we two veterans will now re-engage with the VA system, get re-vested, get him re-referred, and (hopefully) get the Rx re-issued, this time through the VA. Why?
Because our cost will be $11 per month. ($132/year.)
REALLY? Yup.
To keep their seats in congress, our representatives think it’s okay that some Americans have to pay $64,000 a year and others pay $132 a year for the SAME DRUG.
As I said above, we are VERY fortunate—480+ times more fortunate than some Americans, many of whom will “go without”—but I’m still outraged.
PS—this goes back way before the Orange Illiterate and his MAGAots, or I’d blame them. But he could have fixed this before the 2018 elections. Now, nobody’s workin’ with nobody.
For several years, he and his dermatologist tried to attack it w/various topicals...to no avail. I asked the dermatologist if there were, maybe, more aggressive approaches. There were, but he didn’t like them, so he gave us the names of other doctors.
We went to a really nice doctor who Rx’d a biologic medication, and the games began. Improvement, regression, see-saw...but overall, things were a lot better when he was on Embrel and tanning beds. Then, his body learned to overcome the Embrel and it got worse. So, Humira, but it wasn’t great, so then he changed to Otezla, which didn’t seem to work. So then he added multiple, multiple, multiple twice-a-week laser treatments, which worked, but only for about a week at a time.
But the Otezla hadn’t worked as well as the Humira, so back to Humira.
There are probably other people who have had to deal with this disease. It’s ugly. It’s embarassing. It can—and probably will—show up anywhere on your body. Yup, there, too. And you look like a pink alligator and skin flakes off and you bleed and the skin stuff outside is accompanied by arthritis inside.
Congress does not allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Pharmas charge what they want. The current price for MrSue’s Humira is just under $5300 per month. (Just under $64,000/year.)
We are VERY fortunate, in that our insurance covers 95% of the cost, so we pay $264.87 per month. (Just under $3200/year.)
But you know what? Congress DOES allow the VA to negotiate drug prices. So, we two veterans will now re-engage with the VA system, get re-vested, get him re-referred, and (hopefully) get the Rx re-issued, this time through the VA. Why?
Because our cost will be $11 per month. ($132/year.)
REALLY? Yup.
To keep their seats in congress, our representatives think it’s okay that some Americans have to pay $64,000 a year and others pay $132 a year for the SAME DRUG.
As I said above, we are VERY fortunate—480+ times more fortunate than some Americans, many of whom will “go without”—but I’m still outraged.
PS—this goes back way before the Orange Illiterate and his MAGAots, or I’d blame them. But he could have fixed this before the 2018 elections. Now, nobody’s workin’ with nobody.