It is unreal. A lot of research and trials are subsidized by the MS Society and NIH so we should not have to pay for the Research and Development. One Cancer drug I am on the whole development was paid for by tax payers through NIH but it is very expensive as if the drug company paid for the R&D.
Alex
Thank God for insurance! My company is switching providers on January 1. It will be interesting to see if I have any preexisting condition problems.
Interesting factoid tucked into their little summary sheet: those being treated for MS (if -- big IF lately -- IF I read it correctly) make up one-sixth of one percent of the "general population" from which their statistics were drawn.
I wonder what a car would cost if it was custom made for 0.17% of consumers? What about clothing made too large (or small) for 99.87% of the population? Just letting the mind wander. I have a feeling somebody's getting ripped off. I just doubt it's the drug makers, somehow.
I know the print was tiny, but the numbers were huge!
And those number reflect why I'm sure insurance companies don't look fondly upon us MSers. I think my insurance company probably hates me because I have MS, plus so much other stuff going on with me.
Yep, thank goodness for insurance. Without it, how could we afford to take these drugs????
My classmate and friend, who is also the pharmacy tech where I pick up most of my prescriptions, blurted out an expletive when she saw how a one-month supply of Betaseron injections cost ($4600). Luckily my co-pay was $1 through Medicaid, which I'm eligible for so long as I remain a dirt poor student.
As much as I want to be cynical about big pharmaceutical companies, I had a $10 co-pay through Bayer's Betaseron patient assistance program when I was without insurance. It only took about a week to get approved too.