Affordable Care Act Scene 2 - Insurance Premiums

Parent Cafe
11761

<p>That is what I had…</p>

11762

<p>I did say video… Oops. :)</p>

11763

<p>We spent about 5 hours trying to enroll in plans and are finding that for whatever reason we had to call and talk and get them to enroll. The family that took 3 hours enroll yesterday - for whatever reason people don’t want to pull up that ID and continue. They started over, 2.30 hours later the woman’s computer froze up and all the tired and huddled masses trotted off to bed to start over in the morning. Fortunately, one of the competent ladies spent 3 hours enrolling 6 others in their plans.</p>

<p>I suspect it will be fun day tomorrow.</p>

11764

<p>I hope it works out for all of them.</p>

11765

<p>The answer re hep c r&d rugs in Canada is that there’s debate on this new drug due to price, which in Cda is 55k instead of 84k (buying power of single tier, in essence) but likely still too pricy for a public healthcare system to support. Just a hunch but I’ll predict they’ll replace it quickly with the old regimen or invent something cheaper at a cdn uni :)</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>From <a href=“Price of new hepatitis C drug questioned by U.S. medical experts | CBC News”>http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/price-of-new-hepatitis-c-drug-questioned-by-u-s-medical-experts-1.2568495&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11766

<p>dstark, glad you enjoyed the debate. It was nice listening to a debate where the participants aren’t running for political office, so actually answered the questions put forth to them; not just tossing out meaningless answers because they make the “best” sound bites. </p>

11767

<p>I own a few shares of Gilead, not much, just barely enough to question my objectivity. :)</p>

<p>I read the link.</p>

<p>How can a drug with $8 billion in sales increase drug costs $18 to $29 billion in Calif? Is that a typo?</p>

<p>Emilybee, I only heard one flippant answer…“Post Office”. :)</p>

11768

<p>It has $8 billion in sales NOW, but if everyone were treated, it would be a lot more. A lot of people are sitting around with untreated Hep C.</p>

<p>So a course of treatment in Canada costs $55,000 but a course of treatment with the exact same drug in the US costs $84,000. Can one get American prescriptions filled in Canada? These are PILLS. You can travel from anywhere in the US to anywhere in Canada for a lot less than $29,000. Is it legal for an insurance company to tell a US patient that the doctor that treats their Hep C is in Winnipeg, but don’t worry, insurance will pay the travel cost? </p>

<p>Or is it legal for the insurance company to just buy the drug in Canada? This is ridiculous.</p>

11769

<p>No. No. No. No. No. </p>

<p><a href=“Gilead Seeks To Expand Its Blockbuster Hepatitis Platforms In 2014 (NASDAQ:GILD) | Seeking Alpha”>Gilead Seeks To Expand Its Blockbuster Hepatitis Platforms In 2014 (NASDAQ:GILD) | Seeking Alpha;

11770

<p>disregard</p>

11771

<p>Dstark – the cbc link says, “Sovaldi would raise California drug costs between $18 billion and $29 billion per year, including both government and private insurer costs.” That projection could include administrative costs of processing claims and seems to be based on what it would cost if all Hep C patients received the drugs.</p>

<p>The Seeking Alpha article reference to “sales surpassing $8 billion annually by 2018” is likely based on a more modest assumption that only some, but not all, Hep C patients received the drug – possibly because the company anticipates that other drugs will still be prescribed. </p>

<p>I don’t think the sticker price on a drug is necessarily what private insurers and government actually pay – that is, I’m thinking that like everything else in the US medical system, the company sets a high retail price with the expectation that insurers and pharmacies will bargain for something less. </p>

<p>I mean, I don’t know much about pharmaceuticals. But I assume that there is a different wholesale and retail price. </p>

11772

<p>I dont think that Cal projection is correct. We are comparing national and some foreign revenues against Calif’s increased drug costs.</p>

11773

<p>The US market pays most of the research and development cost of new pharmaceuticals </p>

11774

<p><a href=“In Cost Cancer Drug Avastin, Hope and a Dilemma - The New York Times”>In Cost Cancer Drug Avastin, Hope and a Dilemma - The New York Times;

<p>There are markups…hopefully not 50 times like the price of an aspirin. </p>

11775

<p>I think the Cal projection is essentially a worst-case scenario to support an argument that the cost of the drug outweighs its benefits. That’s why they use the phrase “low value.” They are placing a higher priority on dollars than on outcomes. (I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing- if we want to control medical costs, then somewhere along the line people have to look at the financial aspect – but I just am pointing out that it strengthens their argument to look at high-end projections for total costs.)</p>

11776

<p>Probably is based on a worst case scenario.</p>

<p>Kind of reminds me of the Oprah Winfrey show. “You get a car. You get a car. Everybody gets a car”. </p>

<p>“You get Sovaldi. You get Sovaldi. Everybody gets Sovaldi”.</p>

<p>Except a car is a lot cheaper.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/04/us-health-hepatitis-idUSL1N0M10Z720140304”>http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/04/us-health-hepatitis-idUSL1N0M10Z720140304&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11777

<p>Car comes with gift tax.
<a href=“http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/ca-panel-shivs-gileads-sovaldi-price-suggests-focusing-it-sickest-hep-c-pat/2014-03-12”>http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/ca-panel-shivs-gileads-sovaldi-price-suggests-focusing-it-sickest-hep-c-pat/2014-03-12&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11778

<p>Lol…</p>

<p>This is a big time drug. </p>

11779

<p>Mar 14: Idenix Pharmaceuticals initiated a patent infringement lawsuit against Gilead today, causing the stock to shed 3.8% in trading. Gilead’s hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir is the subject of contention; Idenix claims it was first to patent the treatment in Europe. </p>

11780

<p>It’s funny- Gilead is a company of contemptible scum-sucking lowlives who are maximizing their profit by letting people die. But Avastin, the cancer drug, costs even more than sofosbuvir, and it barely does anything-- it, maybe, possibly, extends life by four months, for some cancers, and probably does nothing at all for other cancers for which it is prescribed. And yet insurers pay for Avastin.</p>