Multiple Sclerosis Medication Exstortion!!!

[kermit62]

We not only have a disease in which our bodies are attacking us, but the pharmaceutical and insurance companies are  extorting money from us!!!!! We need affordable  medication that will just help us get through the day! Just please work together to help a person to have a day without any MS hugs or eye site problems, or maybe the ability to walk a slightly straight line!!! Am I asking too much?  

[doublevision1]

If you're not fond of overseas travel, you could always move north and hang out with us freeloadin' Canadians and enjoy our dang universal health care.

[kwarendorf]

I think that this issue tends to expose, already frayed nerves. We have a disease that can't be cured, but can be warded off with drugs. These drugs are VERY expensive.

Insurance can lessen the financial impact of these expenses. Dealing with insurance companies can be VERY difficult, if you even have insurance.

Incurable disease + Expensive Drugs + Difficult Insurance Companies =  circumstance that would test the patience of Job !

We can only cope to the best of our abilities. In the U.S. We are learning about Obamacare. I sure hope it helps :-)

Kyle

[TLC_31]

I am very thankful that pharmceutical companies would put so much on the line to come up with drugs that can make MS (or any disease) much more manageable. The drug I use helps maintain a good quality of life that I didn’t consistently have in the few years before I was diagnosed. The $100 monthly copay is no fun, but it’s still a good value. I’m also thankful to my employer for carrying insurance so that I don’t have a higher copay.

If you think they’re “extorting” money, why not buy stock in BIIB or a similar company? (I have no such positions myself.) If you think it’s such easy money, put your own savings on the line. Don’t complain about others reaping rewards when they’re the ones willing to take the risks.

Or if you just want to be a freeloader, I guess you can move to Ireland, put your head in the sand and believe that MS drugs are free. Nothing in life is free.

[Ojibajo]

I wish I had never click on this thread.

[immisceo]

I think, and I am a US citizen by birth, it is shocking how the set-up works (or doesn't) in the US.

Here (Ireland) MS drugs are free. Free. The government has a Long Term Illness Scheme understanding that treating people with a longterm illness keeps them in the work-force and paying taxes. Long term gain! For everybody. http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/health/health_related_benefits_and_entitlements/long_term_illness_scheme.html

Instead, there seems to be more of shoulder-shrug willingness to just shunt people of onto disability once they hit the wall in the US (man that "Trends with Benefits" episode of This American Life was an eye-opener!)

So, I think it's more an issue of government policy being toothless and ineffectual than strictly pharma. Drugs can take the better bones of 10-15 years to get to market during which time they are a money-pit. But they can and do negotiate with entire governments if the legal set-up (like in Ireland) is there.

I never would have thought as an 80s/90s kid that emigrating to another country would provide me with a better guarantee of being healthy and happy as an adult. But I'm thankful there's just a whole side to this struggle I don't have to deal with because I live in a place that believes in taking care of its own.

[johnniebear]

Pharmaceutical companies Spend a lot on research and development on new drugs and then there's also the point that some of these drugs cost so  much is because people sue them .

We are way to sue happy in our society look at all the warning labels on a ladder and ladder companies  still get sued when somebody falls off a ladder.

I we need   tort reform and the cost of drugs could be less of a burden


this One little piece of the puzzle to maybe help lower-cost there's a lot of things that need to be done..


take care
JB

[HVAC]

I am sorry for your frustration. I used to worry so much about the expense of MS then I got Stage 4 Cancer. At that point I just stopped worrying.There was no point. I will be in debt for the rest of my life. I have accepted that and its okay.

Alex

[caregiver222]

This is a very complicated issue, and having worked for a pharmaceutical company. They are not necessarily the "bad guys". The current U.S. health care regulations (Obamacare) restrict reimbursement, except for certain protocols. The FDA has also been unhelpful in approving drugs in the U.S. approved in Europe. Government bureaucrats are as much at fault, who write regulations concerning so-called "orphan drugs".