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Bridge Crane build
- Thread starter rabler
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Sorry to hear that, our son Steven (26 years old) was diagnosed with Crohn's in 2003 at 7 years old, though he probably had it surface 3 years earlier. Steven has recently changed from Humira to Skyrizi. He was on Humira for 11 or 12 years; started on it (had been on Remicade) after a resection in the sigmoid. His body was not responding as well to the Humira; time to move to the next med (after a stool sample showed elevated inflammation levels). Not a fun disease to manage, best of luck to you!
Bruce
p.s. My PSA regarding these biologics and probably other meds: Our son Steven's Humira shots were billed to insurance at $3600 a shot, he took one every two weeks. Blue Cross Blue Shield had a contractual price of $3200 for 2 shots with Humira's producer. I had a $3600 out-of-pocket max on my insurance at the time; always maxed out by February. My wife was chatting with a co-worker who has Crohn's and mentioned the cost of Humira. He asked why our son wasn't a Humira ambassador. Pretty simple process, go on-line to Humira's website, answer a number of questions. He was accepted as an ambassador and got shots at $5 for two. His sponsor called him every 4-6 weeks and asked 10-15 minutes worth of questions on how he was doing. When his GI suggested Skyrizi, Steven applied for and got the ambassador card again.
It amazes me how a company charging almost $20K per treatment (Skirizi's cost without insurance for one infusion) can drop to $5 by just filling out a questionnaire. I wish Grizzly would have had the same process when I bought my G0709 5 years ago!
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Also, why didn't your insurance carrier mention it? Answer=not in their financial best interest.
Or, some medical professional involved in Steven's treatment? Answer=see above?
Crazy world.
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All very good info. For maintenance I’ve been treated by, at various times, prednisone, asathyroprine, mercaptupurine, remicade, humira, and stelara. The biologics are great and I’m aware of the various programs. I’ve also had surgery to remove a scarred section. My stelara shots are a $5 co-pay every 8 weeks. The downside of many of those treatments is a (theoretical) increase cancer risk. Causality can’t be determined on an individual case but I have no family history of prostate cancer. Nevertheless the biologics are good drugs and I wouldn’t forego them, although I was on two meds at once, mercaptupurine and humira, which is suspect. I strongly believe in being an educated and active participant in my health care, which includes risk/benefit decisions.
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You imply that logic should apply. The biologics are great meds but complex and expensive to develop. Medical billing and market price control issues mean those companies have to be opportunistic about defraying the development cost. Just like the issues with almost any other medical billing where uninsured often pay substantially more than covered patients. Yes, crazy world.
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Randal, I figured you'd be an "informed shopper" when I mentioned the programs. Many are not. I told the Humira story to many people at my former workplace. My babbling did benefit a couple as one had a parent and another a child with a chronic illness; both on long-term high-priced medication. Both ended getting ambassador cards for whatever they were on.
And you are sooo right about being educated and being your own advocate. Our son had a restriction in his sigmoid; normal plumbing diameter is 25 mm, he was down to 5 mm. He was on a daily colonoscopy prep just to get anything through. The docs were doing a dilation procedure to try to open him up some. They went a little too far, tore his sigmoid so he was leaking inside. High fever from infection as a result which lead to an ostomy bag for a year, etc. etc. etc. I'm cynical by nature, "There are doctors who get A's and doctor's who get C's; they both get to practice medicine. Send my kid to the hospital 75 miles away where I know they got A's, not the local one with many C's". Even with that, we had a few "duh" moments; docs looking at wrong tests, not looking at blood work, etc. Pays to be an informed shopper.
Bruce
And you are sooo right about being educated and being your own advocate. Our son had a restriction in his sigmoid; normal plumbing diameter is 25 mm, he was down to 5 mm. He was on a daily colonoscopy prep just to get anything through. The docs were doing a dilation procedure to try to open him up some. They went a little too far, tore his sigmoid so he was leaking inside. High fever from infection as a result which lead to an ostomy bag for a year, etc. etc. etc. I'm cynical by nature, "There are doctors who get A's and doctor's who get C's; they both get to practice medicine. Send my kid to the hospital 75 miles away where I know they got A's, not the local one with many C's". Even with that, we had a few "duh" moments; docs looking at wrong tests, not looking at blood work, etc. Pays to be an informed shopper.
Bruce
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For this reason, I get my non-emergency medical specialty work done at the Mayo clinic in Rochester. Even there it is prudent to be well informed. Doctors are human too,
Sounds like your son is on the right track, I wish him the best in dealing with his Crohn’s. Lots of advances have made a significant difference over the decades.
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