Price of my chemo pills every month after insurance and a savings card
Wednesday, 12 Mar 2025
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The drug itself is called Voranigo (Vorasidenib). It was approved by the FDA in August to treat brain tumors. Since starting the pill a few months ago, every time I get the pills delivered, the price lines make my head spin.
Edit: want to add that the savings card saved me like $400, so that’s something right?
Edit 2: wanted to add further context. This is a targeted chemo pill. Ideally I will take this for the rest of my life. More likely I will take it until it doesn’t work. This type of chemo doesn’t kill the cancer, but keeps it from growing further. Every time I see those prices, it’s kind of a lot because I’m reminded that my husband has to work a job he hates for me to be on his high premium health insurance since I resigned from my job as an attorney earlier this year. My seizures got worse and it affected my ability to help clients. It’s a complicated mix of feelings tbh.
The crazy part: they don’t need that $25.
The entire insurance and medical system is like a joke.
Hoping the best for your health!
Wishing you the best!
I’ve had similar experiences with my autoimmune medicines. Wishing you the best and I hope the medicine is helping.
Since it’s obvious that the $25 payment isn’t even a rounding error compared to the actual bill, the $25 charge is really just a “fuck you” from the insurance company to you.
I just finished an eight-week course (literally today is the last dose) of oxervate. For a bunch of eye drops, every two weeks: [https://imgur.com/a/Gs1zgU3](https://imgur.com/a/Gs1zgU3)
(spoiler if you don’t want to click: $28,049.46)
Hopefully you are covered! Keep fighting!!! God bless you!!!
really interesting how the original price is so comically high despite it being lowered to 25$ by insurance
resulting in people requiring insurance to afford it, and the medicine producers getting to take 39,861$ off their taxes in ‘lost income’
I’m currently on CAPOX and the capecitibene is like $1800/week. The oxaliplatin, I have no idea because I get it at the hospital. I live in Canada and it’s all covered except for a $250 (total) deductible.
My daughter was a preemie. After her 103 day NICU stay and 2 life flight transfers the total billed to insurance was $2.7M. The total billed to us was $0. Insurance “negotiated” that 2.7m down to ~300k.
That’s when I learned how the American healthcare system actually works: they just charge you 10x what it should actually cost up front. If you have insurance, they get an 80-90% discount and skim their BS fees off the top. If you don’t, debt collectors follow you around for pennies on the dollar and skim their BS fees off the bottom.
My wife and I just got the surgery bill for her D&C.
Before insurance: $9.8k
After insurance: $87
Let’s not forget, and for those outside of the US that may not know our insurance is largely tied to our employment which is just inconceivable on so many levels
I love when they show us these extravagant prices like they’re doing us a favor like be very fr
Such a bullshit system.
keep fighting…keep us updated ill say a prayer.
Fun fact, this drug is not covered by Medicare, OP should thank his insurance company.
The illusion of getting a good deal/coverage
As a 3rd world country person. It took me 3 years of work living with my parents (virtually no expenses) to save up around 10k. Your meds are 4 times that IN A MONTH. I couldn’t even imagine dealing with expenses like that.
Wishing you a swift recovery!
“we’ll cover the first $39,861.00, but fuck you and that last 25 bucks”
There is no good gaddamn reason this pill should be as much as it is. Life saving drugs shouldn’t be this much…it is fucking extortion.
Also I’m happy it’s working for you! My cousin is doing chemo pills too and they’re helping her along but yeah we’re doing the best we can.
Cancer is no joke. I wish you and your loved ones the best come hell or high water.
Gotta ding you that $25 to make sure you’re not taking chemo drugs recreationally?
Price for my chemo pills in Canada:$0.
Some of the price is never intended to go to the patient. It’s their negotiated way of helping the company make back the potential millions/billions of dollars it takes to create the drug before they lose the patent and it becomes generic
Wait, the American health insurance system does actually work some times?!
As a European, I was under the impression that getting a tumour in America meant either spending the rest of your life in crippling debt, or making the blue crystal.
I wonder how much that would actually cost… Like ACTUALLY
It costs a drug company about a billion dollars to get a drug to market. That includes all the research, and approval process involved. That’s not counting all of the other drugs that 9/10 times doesn’t get approved. They gotta make up those losses somehow. Is it always ethical? No. But it’s not as black and white as armchair Luigis make it out to be.
Source: clinical pharmacist for a non profit ag based health plan
But…is someone getting $39k somewhere down the line? If so that may be the bigger question
Why not make those pills cost $1,000,000, and then jack up the out of pocket to $30?