CureMatch
×
  • Physicians
    • Patients
  • About Us
  • News
    • CureMatch News
    • Validation and Research
    • Events & Conferences
  • Contact

Financial assistance with the soaring costs of cancer drugs

Financial assistance with the soaring costs of cancer drugs
Blog Posts

In recent years, many exciting new advances in the treatment for cancer have emerged. However, new drugs also usually mean a higher cost of cancer drugs.  Cancer treatment options are often thousands of dollars per drug per month. Everyone thinks twice about giving up our hard-earned income in exchange for any service or product.  This includes insurance companies, and so not all drugs are automatically covered by or paid for by your insurance company.

Some patients are fortunate enough that the cost of the treatment is not of concern. But, for many, it can be a choice between tuition for a college bound child or the cost of cancer drugs. Considerations include:

  • Will I be cured?
  • If not, how many more months or years will it buy me?
  • Am I better off investing in my children’s’ college tuition?

Such choices are nearly impossible to make when one is still in shock at learning about a new diagnosis of cancer.

While we choose our insurance plans and hope that they will cover our major medical expenses like drugs that can help treat cancer, what is one to do when one’s insurance company will not pay for a treatment?

In the event that there is not a covered drug alternative, most practitioners are familiar with asking the insurance company to pay for a “non-covered” item, otherwise known as a Prior Authorization Request. If approved, the patient can receive the drug without worrying about the cost.  If they do not, called a “denial”, then what?  It can be appealed.  That means asking again. In the second request, additional information can be included in your situation or articles can be included from medical journals that support your case.

Sometimes, insurance companies will say they will pay for the medicine, but ask the patient to pay a portion, otherwise known as a copay.  Even copay amounts can be upwards of $300-$500 per drug per month. With copay assistance programs (e.g.. Patient Advocate Foundation’s (PAF) Co-Pay Relief Program), the cost of cancer drugs can be made almost manageable.

Still, there’s the possibility that the insurance company will deny an appeal. Then what? Drug manufacturers have offered Patient Assistance Programs (PAP) for a number of years, but sometimes we don’t know to ask about them. PAPs are often dependent upon diagnosis, income, and place of residence. NeedyMeds and Biologics are a couple of resources that have compiled many of the assistance programs that are offered.

While doctors will always try to choose the best drugs to treat cancer, costs can be sometimes prohibitive.  When a drug is not covered by an insurance plan, patients and caregivers can help their oncologist by asking:

  • Is there a drug alternative?
  • How much will the cost of cancer drugs be if I were to purchase them?
  • Can a prior authorization be requested?
  • If the prior authorization is denied, can it be appealed?
  • If I can’t afford the copay, is there a copay assistance program?
  • If my insurance won’t pay at all, is there a Patient Assistance Program?

It can often pay to ask.

-Lillian Yao, Pharm.D.

 

 

Share

  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • Print

Receive CureMatch News

Sign up for personalized oncology information and resources.
* = required field

Recent News & Resources

  • CureMatch Appoints Visionary Leader, Ally Perlina, as Chief Science Officer

    Leader brings two decades of industry experience in precision medicine, pharmaceutical and translational science to...

  • Biomarkers Aren’t Consistently Used to Select Participants for Immunotherapy Trials

    Only a minority of clinical trials evaluating immunotherapeutic agents in 2019 used a biomarker to...

  • Real-world Data from a Molecular Tumor Board Demonstrates Improved Outcomes with a Precision N-of-One Strategy

    Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has allowed the identification of novel potential targets for patients with cancer....

  • Servier and CureMatch® Launch Their Self-Certified CE-Marked Clinical Decision Support Software, Bionov™

    PARIS and SAN DIEGO, Oct. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — WeHealth™ Digital Medicine, Servier Group’s e-health business unit, and CureMatch®, a...

  • How Precision Medicine Can Help You

    Precision medicine is revolutionizing cancer care. Dr. Razelle Kurzrock highlights how personalized treatments improve patient...

  • 64 FDA-Approved Drugs Identified as Potential Treatments for COVID-19

    Scientists from CureMatch and UCSD use pharmacophore-based drug design and a molecular docking technique to...

  • The Crossroads of Precision Medicine and Therapeutic Decision-Making: Use of an Analytical Computational Platform to Predict Response to Cancer Treatments

    Oncology is currently the largest area of clinical health expenditures for prescription drugs in the...

Validation

  • Real-world Data from a Molecular Tumor Board Demonstrates Improved Outcomes with a Precision N-of-One Strategy

    Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has allowed the identification of novel potential targets for...

  • The Crossroads of Precision Medicine and Therapeutic Decision-Making: Use of an Analytical Computational Platform to Predict Response to Cancer Treatments

    Oncology is currently the largest area of clinical health expenditures for prescription...

  • CureMatch at WIN Symposium 2018 Winning the War against Cancer with Precision Oncology

    SAN DIEGO, CA – June 22, 2018 – CureMatch, Inc. offers results...

  • Personalized Drug Combinations Can Lead to Better Results for Cancer Patients

    A featured article in The Scientist magazine highlights CureMatch co-founder Dr. Razelle...

Archives

  • December 2020 (2)
  • October 2020 (3)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • November 2019 (2)
  • September 2019 (1)
  • August 2019 (1)
  • July 2019 (2)
  • March 2019 (2)
  • September 2018 (1)
  • August 2018 (1)
  • July 2018 (1)
  • June 2018 (5)
  • May 2018 (1)
  • April 2018 (4)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • February 2018 (3)
  • January 2018 (4)
  • December 2017 (3)
  • November 2017 (1)
  • October 2017 (1)
  • September 2017 (3)
  • August 2017 (4)
  • June 2017 (6)
  • May 2017 (9)
  • April 2017 (11)
  • March 2017 (8)
  • February 2017 (3)
  • January 2017 (5)
  • October 2016 (1)
  • September 2016 (5)
  • August 2016 (2)
  • May 2016 (1)
  • April 2016 (1)

logo

+1 (858) 859-2873

FAX: +1 (858) 430-5813

Quick Links

  • Physicians
  • About CureMatch
  • News and Latest Posts
    • CureMatch News
    • Validation and Case Studies
    • Events and Conferences
  • Contact Us
  • FAQ

Latest News and Results

  • CureMatch Appoints Visionary Leader, Ally Perlina, as Chief Science Officer Dec 15

    Leader brings two decades of industry experience in precision medicine, pharmaceutical and translational science to...

  • Biomarkers Aren’t Consistently Used to Select Participants for Immunotherapy Trials Dec 13

    Only a minority of clinical trials evaluating immunotherapeutic agents in 2019 used a biomarker to...

  • Real-world Data from a Molecular Tumor Board Demonstrates Improved Outcomes with a Precision N-of-One Strategy Oct 19

    Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has allowed the identification of novel potential targets for patients with cancer....

© 2021 CureMatch, Inc. CureMatch is a registered trademark.
FAQ | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | HIPAA Notice

We’d like to send you a CureMatch Sample Analysis

 

Sample Analysis Download Form

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

 

We value and respect your privacy and will not publish, share, or sell your contact information.

View Privacy Policy

Some pages of this website are intended for healthcare professionals

This webpage is strictly reserved for healthcare professionals. Please confirm that you are a healthcare professional.

Otherwise, you will be redirected to the institutional part of this website.

Thank you for your understanding.

I am a healthcare professionalI am not a healthcare professional

Get ready to utilize the latest genomics data in your practice

Rank the most promising systemic therapies for your patients

Do you need to filter out those therapies with poor outcomes

Sort through 4.5 million expertly curated combinations of drugs

Compute your own drug choices alongside CureMatch data