Myasthenia Gravis Support Group

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a neuromuscular disease leading to fluctuating muscle weakness and fatiguability. The hallmark of myasthenia gravis is muscle weakness that increases during periods of activity and improves after periods of rest. Although myasthenia gravis may affect any voluntary muscle, muscles that control eye and eyelid movement, facial expression, and...

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Tina-Lawson 04/08/2011

I got my insurance statement today and they charged us 9,995 a bag for Carimune times 5 bags. Does this amount seem right. This was not including the hospital stay. Insurance had preapproved the stay but not the IVIG and this was not what we where told initially. Now I have a $60,000 hospital stay and $50,000 is for IVIG Bags alone

deleted_user 04/08/2011

Hi,
Unfortunately that sounds about right. I had IVIG back in 2004 in a outpatent basis and the bill was at about $60.000. In the Following month I had my thymecctomy and my bill shot up to over 100K . Fortunately my insurance CO picked up most of the bill. I called the University Hospital that I had procedures done and told them of my economic situation and the did renegotiate the bill and lowered it quite a bit. You may want to give that a shot.

deleted_user 04/08/2011

Yep, that sounds right. What did they tell you initially about the cost? You might try calling the IVIG company to see if they can help with costs.

krbunn 04/08/2011

I had 275 grams over four days outpatient in December and cost was $59K+. Had 300 grams in February and expecting outpatient infusion bill to be well over $60K.

cgreens 04/08/2011

That does sound terrible. Have you looked at the chart when Carimune is compared to other IVIG? The IGG content is one of the lowest. Just trying to pass along some information. Not even sure what difference it makes. I was curious when I mentioned it here about the different brands, but really got no feedback on it. I have no advise to give you other than what is being said about calling the company and/or figuring out some insurance help. My goodness!

http://www.biorx.net/IVIG_chart.pdf

Best wishes for peace,

TJ

catnap2 04/09/2011

I get 47g one day per month and my insurance EOB shows it costs around $9000 to $11000 each time. Thankfully my insurance covers it as an office visit so I only pay a co-pay since it's done in my doc's office. I believe I get gamaguard. I'm sorry you're having to deal with this on top of your husbands medical problems.

Sarah100 04/09/2011

Sounds right to me too. If you get denied from your insurance company, keep appealing. I went through the whole appeals process with Blue Shield of California with a request for a "permanent" preauthorization number should my daughter need IVIg at any point in the future (under the argument that Blue Shield's emergency approval time of three days would be inadequate in the event of a crisis). Blue Shield denied me the whole way. I finally got to send an appeal to the California Office of Managed Care. Their independent medical reviewer agreed with me and now we have an authorization number.

deleted_user 04/18/2011

Yes this is correct. I just got my bill as well and per day I was paying close to 15, 000. That includes the bg around 9, 600 my nurse alone was almost 300.00.. Thank you health insurance.

deleted_user 04/26/2011

Hi, I had the same problem. Insurance said that the IVIG was just for personnal comfort. Someone gave me the magazine I.G.Living, it is free for anyone receiving the treatments. They are on line. In the back issues, I forgot which one, are letters for insurance companies. My insurance finally paid for it. The web is:
www.IGLiving.com
Good luck,
sunshine

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