i know. i guess...or i hope some of that money goes to research?

yea those shots are over 500 dollars apeice.the ribas are cheap in comparison.the neupogens are high also about 400 dollars apc.my whole tx,i figured cost around 60.000 dollars.eeewww wwweeee.that is alot.thank god for ins.

wow, $400 a shot for neupogen! i didn't know they were that expensive. guess i never looked at the insurance stuff cause i was so sick. so i used about $16,000 worth of neupogen! whew!

do you know what procrit costs?

My Riba is $1467 a month (6 pills total per day)

Pegasys $2421 a month (4 shots)

Procrit $1121 per shot as needed, given at Clinic (numbers have to be low enough each time to qualify for insurance to cover)

Blood transfusion one unit $1849 done at hospital

Clobex shampoo $314 per bottle (will last a couple months)

We won't even get into all the doctors visits, all the blood tests, all the various expensive procedures that were done before I even started treatment to make sure I was healthy enough. They even did a few that don't always get done because of my age.

I do look at my insurance statements. I find it comforting seeing the payments being made and my not having to pay it. I also like to double check to make sure there isn't any double billing or obvious mistakes.

I do appreciate having insurance. I know that many people do not have insurance, or have one that isn't even fairly comprehensive , through no fault of their own.

We aren't on Medicare yet. We pay for our policy but it is offered under the terms of my husbands retirement, which means we are in a very large pool that helps the company to continue to be profitable.

It costs us much more than the Republicans are suggesting as a voucher program for future retirees. And I can't even imagine trying to go search for a decent plan when we are really elderly and have even less of our ability to understand all the various plans. Even now we get confused sometimes, but we are still alert enough to be able to take a more careful look on another day.

We still have our deductable and co-pays, plus when we end up using a service that isn't a PPO with our company we have to pay at 50%. So we have to double check each time we add to our ever growing list of doctors and testing facilities.

If we didn't have insurance we would have to mortgage our home and we would run through that money quickly. And the costs of this treatment is a drop in the bucket compared to cancer and others. We have friends where the husband was being treated for Prostate cancer and just as he was finishing up his wife got breast cancer.

Amazing,

Char

i'm so glad the insurance company paid for almost all of treatment. it's just too expensive! and it should be free for everyone in the u.s. we're supposed to be the most advanced country on the planet yet not everyone has insurance! i find that so awful.

i mean, what if you really need treatment for hep c and have no insurance? or what if you have cancer and need chemo and radiation and no insurance? it's not fair!

I noticed that when I first picked up my meds and saw on the receipt where it said "Your insurance saved you $$$$". Wow! I have medicare but since my husband's military, I use their rx benefits. I am very fortunate in that way... Peg cost me $9 and Riba $3 per mo, plus I've never had them tell me something wasn't covered...I do wonder how long that's gonna last under Obamacare though. I've already heard them talking about cutting back on Tricare. I'm amazed at how much some people have to pay, even with insurance that they already pay out the ass for every month!

Are most of these costs covered by insurance?

@tallone...Yes, insurance usually pays for most of it. It just depends on your insurance prescription benefits. Mine is just a standard copay depending on whether it's a brand name, generic, or a "non-preferred" drug. Others pay a certain percentage and you pay the rest, for example 80/20. I know there have been some who have paid several hundred $$ a month for their copay. Check with your insurance company.

insurance picks it up. but i dont think the ins co pays that ammount. they pay a pre set ammount.

That's why I'm waiting for Clinical Trial. My job drop my Insurance after promising they wouldn't!! Until Feb, I haven't been without insurance for the past 25 yrs. and its hard and scary. NC has no safety net programs for adults and even w/ Soc. Sec. Disability there's a 2 yrs. waiting period before Medicare kicks in.

i have health insurance and my co pays for my meds (riba and pegasys) are 50.00 a month