Posted 5/29/2013 by hhill
Even with gold-plated medical insurance, cancer is expensive. With less comprehensive insurance, it can be devastating. We like to think this is less of a problem in Massachusetts, where we thankfully have close to universal health care coverage, but it is surely still a problem. Many people have insurance, but also have large co-pays and deductibles. Oral cancer drugs are not always covered by insurance, and lots of creative thinking goes into how to deliver treatments and medications in the optimal and safe and "covered" (by insurance) way. An example would be Neulasta injections that cost upwards of 5K each; some insurances require that individuals receive those injections, given approximately 24 hours after a chemo infusion, at the Hospital--which adds the costs of a nurse and the hospital overhead as well as the patient's inconvenience, gas, and parking.
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