RA In North Carolina

UHC in North Carolina is dropping their Rheumatology doctors starting with one clinic. The reason is the medications these doctors administer to RA patients are very expensive and United has had a drop in earnings and this is a appeasement to their shareholders.

What this really means is unspoken but most Americans know the answer. This mostly affects seniors and young RA patients as they age. As an RA patient myself, I think this is very bad for the insurance industry as UHC is the largest carrier in the country. What this implies is that the rest of the pack will follow the leader. There are only two ways this can play out. Either the insurers are going to drop those patients (which is illegal) or drop those doctors administering those medications.

Solution

The real solution is to force these pharmaceutical manufacturers to sell those drugs in the US for the same price they sell everywhere else. It appears that the rest of the world does not have this problem which implies a lower cost of these medications. It looks like Congress needs to get involved and we all know what that will look like. It is a disaster in the making but RA patients’ needs to stand up and be heard and address this concern with their Congress people. Unfortunately, many of the Congressional people are helped by Big Pharma with contributions to their campaigns so don’t know how that will work.

The average RA patient is most likely a senior, on Medicare and getting the help they need but if they need infusions or expensive drugs, they could be in for a major surprise in the future. I am on a drug administered in the doctor’s office, so it falls under Medicare Part B, not D and the cost is picked up by Medicare and my supplement.

Not everyone can afford a supplement and under the MAPD program these drugs costs 20%. Since the drugs are administered monthly and the cost is in the $3-5000 range the patient must pay between $600-$1000 per month which the average senior cannot afford. Without those drugs, they will die a painful death.

Big Pharma needs to adjust their rates for these medications so the average person can afford them. I am not a fan of socialized medicine, but it may be the only solution if Big Pharma doesn’t cooperate. I hope this can be

resolved before the final step of socialized medicine. That will create a whole list of other bad scenarios and needs to be avoided.

I hope we can avoid this and move forward without going the socialized medicine route so we all can have choice of doctors and treatments without governmental interference.

This is but one of many situations that needs addressing in our medical and insurance systems.

I hope this information is useful and if anyone has questions, please contact me via phone or email and I will respond quickly.

Also, you may want to take a look at Medicare 2025 Information.

The Barend Agency Inc.

Len Barend, Broker

Cell:702-250-2200