My Crohn's and the outrageous cost of drugs in America.
As a retired Illinois teacher I receive a state public pension but a reduced earned Social Security benefit.
My pension is pretty good and it includes subsidized - not free - health insurance with the option of enrolling in a Medicare Advantage plan.
I’ve always have argued that our public pension is not, as some describe it, generous.
It is part of fair compensation for the work we did. In fact, every worker should have a pension as good after a lifetime of paid or unpaid work.
Recently I have been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. It is a incurable disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect all or a segment of the gastrointestinal tract.
I think I have had it for a long time and it just went un diagnosed until about six months ago.
When I am not having a flare up it is quite manageable and I’m being treated with a kind of drugs known as biologics.
You may have seen advertisements on tv for these drugs.
Why do the drug companies add to the cost of these drugs by advertising them on tv?
Only two countries allow advertising prescription drugs on television: New Zealand and the United States.
In Europe it is against the law.
I was taking a biologic called Entyvio. My gastroenterologist wants me to shift to different one called Skyrizi.
It sounds like the name of someone who plays third base for the Cubs.
The drugs are so expensive that my Aetna Medicare Advantage plan requires preauthorization before I can receive them.
I’m still waiting for the okay on Skyrizi.
Without insurance the cost of Entyvio is over $40,000 a year.
Without insurance the cost of Skyrizi is $20,000 for a single dose.
That is over $100,000 a year.
But I have my earned retirement insurance, so my costs are capped. Not free. But capped.
Over 30,000,000 Americans have no insurance at all.
The giant pharmaceutical company AbbVie makes Skyrizi.
AbbVie also make another big selling drug for Crohn’s called Humira. The list price for Humira is $7,000 for a two dose pack.
You also might have seen ads for Humira on tv.
A lawsuit has been filed against pharmaceutical giant AbbVie over the high price tag on its best-selling drug Humira and a practice it allegedly engages in to help pharmacy benefit managers pocket more money on the medication.
The lawsuit, which was filed yesterday and seeks class-action status, asserts AbbVie is inflating the cost of Humira to levels far higher than what it costs to manufacture the drug. At the same time, the lawsuit alleges, AbbVie offers pharmacy benefit managers, which negotiate drug prices with manufacturers and pharmacies on behalf of health insurers, lower and undisclosed prices for Humira in exchange for preferred formulary status.
AbbVie and other giants that make up Big Pharma inflate the cost of many of their drugs.
“By publicizing its unfair and unconscionable list prices, while keeping its net prices confidential, AbbVie has harmed the plaintiff and class members by causing them to make out-of-pocket payments for their Humira that are grossly inflated or, if they cannot afford out-of-pocket payments for Humira, has caused them to suffer other actual damages, including physical suffering and out-of-pocket payments for drugs that are inferior to their physician-prescribed Humira,” the lawsuit reads.
“Prices are now so high that despite being prescribed, many Humira patients simply can’t afford it,” the lawsuit continues.