[Ip-health] The newest generation of drugs: Who can afford them?

[Joana Ramos]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2008119250_drugs17m.html

Seattle Times
August 17, 2008

The newest generation of drugs: Who can afford them?

By Carol M. Ostrom
Seattle Times health reporter

Sally Garcia, a 53-year-old lawyer disabled by multiple sclerosis, was torn=
.

A new-generation medication, Copaxone, was really working for her. After
two decades of being in and out of hospitals, Garcia was taking steps to
work again.

Her wallet, though, was in severe distress. Under her Medicare
prescription plan, Garcia's share of the expensive drug was $330 per
month. All together, medications were taking a third of her disability
payments =97 her only income =97 and she couldn't swing it.

Copaxone, Enbrel, Remicade: For some patients, such new-generation
drugs, often called "biologicals" or "bioengineered" when they are
created by genetically modified living cells, have performed magic. In
some cases, they work when other drugs have failed, or for diseases that
previously had no drug treatments at all.

But they cost a lot =97 often $2,000 to $3,000 per month.

And in a double whammy, some insured patients who previously paid a
fixed amount =97 likely $30 to $50 even for the most expensive, brand-name
drugs =97 are suddenly finding the rules have changed.

For these new drugs, an increasing number of patients must pay a
percentage of the tab, generally 25 to 30 percent. For many of those
patients, that can mean a bill of $600 to $900 a month for a drug that
they may need for many years.

The rising bill for such complex drugs threatens to financially
overwhelm patients and employers, and =97 if current trends continue =97 to
unravel the very philosophy of health insurance.

"The idea of insurance is to protect people from catastrophic costs,"
says Gary Claxton, director of the Healthcare Marketplace Project for
the Kaiser Family Foundation.

"At some point, people aren't going to consider themselves insured if
they're at risk for a huge amount out-of-pocket just because they have
one disease rather than another."

Usage expected to soar

Today, such drugs are prescribed relatively rarely. But their use is
expected to explode........

( full text article at URL above)

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Joana Ramos, MSW
Cancer Resources & Advocacy
Seattle WA USA
+1-206-229-2420
http://ramoslink.info/
www.bmtbasics.org