The company paid for my first months on it, because I was not covered in BC and my rheumatologist could not prescribe me anything new.

You might want to try contacting the company rep, if your insurance won't cover it.

In Canada, if the doctor prescribes it, and it is on the list of meds that are paid for, it is automatically covered. The USA has a weird system, where the insurance decides what you should be on, sometimes, instead of the doctor.

Oh, yes, it did not work at all for me!

I had hassles with insurance covering it as well. My Rhuematologist had to write several appeals. Even then it was still around $800 a month. However, since I wasn't on Medicare or Medicaid and had private insurance I was able to use the manufacturers co-pay assistance program: http://ra.xeljanz.com/rheumatoid-arthritis-support-resources/co-pay-savings-card

It then cost me nothing as they covered what insurance didn't. Be certain you have been registered and are active before ordering though as they do not cover the costs of previous refills before your active date.

Good luck!

P.S. And it did wonders for me for several years. ;-)

Thanks my doc is doing the appeals process now. I will sign up for the co-pay assist in the morning.

if you think it is going to fly (be approved) - ask your rheumatologist if the pharm rep left samples with the rheum. my rheumatologist had them from xeljanz. that's how i started while I was still in the almost approved pipeline.

Hi Elvis Black, I am on Xeljantz and I got it approved by the insurance right away. I actually didn't have a problem getting it through the insurance company probably because I have been on almost every other DMard and Biologic that
there is out there.
MarleneJ you are so right when you say here in the US it is the insurance companies that control out lives and what meds we should and should not taken according to their standards. Very sad.

UPDATE: so it looks like my insurance is going to approve it once they get verbal confirmation from my doc.

Xeljanz is actually the one med I wanted to be on but my insurance only covers me for Humira, Enbrel, and a few others. I'm in the USA and I agree its not fair the insurance company decides who should be on what. I'm suspicious about that, as I think its about who will make the most profit. I also hear Xeljanz works better than Humira, but I think the protocol is you have to run the myriad of DMARDS and other biologics before you can get approved for Xeljanz

UPDATE #2: well turns out the insurance company wants me to try Orenca before they approve the xeljanz

Did your insurance company say why? What don't you research the efficacy of the 2 drugs? Be sure to challenge them if you finf Xeljanz appears to work better, or accept their ruling, if not.

Orencia was ok. Do they have injections yet or is it still IV? Xeljanz is easy because it is pills, but Orencia was ok for me. It quit working after a bit, which is how I got to Xeljanz. I know it isn't what you wanted, but I think it will be ok, at least for a while.

Never tried, but I notice that the tv ads for Xeljanz state it helps "with the pain of RA." Does it act to stop the progression of the disease???

Yes. It is a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor. It is not a pain killer.

Although, it talks about inhibiting receptors, I don't understand exactly what receptors they are. It talks about T cells and gene replication.

They are injections . As for the insurance company they won’t approve until you have tried the alternatives. So we will see