This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Hello: I have been on Rebif for a year and a half with very few side effects and no new lesions. My medical insurance company was changed a few months ago and the new one limits my supply to 30 days instead of the 90 day supply I had before. Makes it more difficult to travel. When I asked why the limit on Ribif when the plan says you can get 90 day supplies if you use the in-house mail order firm, they sent me a letter saying that all "agents for muliple sclerosis and neurological related therapies" were limited to 30 day supplies. Anyone else have the same problem or have a clue why the insurance company would single out MS treatments?

I 've been on Rebif since February of '07 and also have very few side effects and no new lesions as of my last MRI in November. When I started I was set up with a pharmacy that shipped my meds in the 30 day supply version. My insurance company kept trying to get me to switch to their own pharmacy with a promise that they would send me a 90 day supply and save me money. They caught me on fuzzy brain day and I caved in. They promptly screwed up the order, sending me the 22mcg instead of the 44. When I called to complain I had to go through five layers of phone options before I got to a live person. I switched back to my regular pharmacy, where I always get a real person on the phone and they never screw up the order. Yes the 30 day supply does make planning travel a bit more complicated, but the service I get is worth it. I bet if I asked them to, my current pharmacy would ship my meds anywhere I wanted.

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RRMS since 01/07.

I've had the same experience with my insurance company. I went around and around with them about getting a 90 day supply because my copay structure usually gives me 3 months for the price of 2 if I use the mail order pharmacy for 90 day supplies. The answer I fianlly got was "sorry, we don't do 90 day supplies for the really expensive drugs." I'm very lucky because my copays are low and overall my insurance is fantastic, so I decided to just let it go...

hi. I read your problems with rebif and insurance and I got a bit curious about it. I live in Italy and here you don't have to pay to get rebif. If you have a MS diagnosis you can start rebif (or copaxone) therapy. If you start rebif you go to the hospital have have a visit with the neurologist who examines blood test and if everything is ok gives tou rebif for 1 month. After that period you have to go back with new blood test. If everything is ok again they give you rebif for 2 month. After 2 month
you have to go back with new blood test. If everything is ok again they give you rebif for 3months. And so on (every 3 months). But you don't pay rebif nor blood test nor neurologist visit.
I think your system is different so I'd like to know how it works if you don't mind because in Italy 1 month (12 phials) rebif 44 costs around 1600€ (that is more than what I earn......)
thank you very much

chicca

lucky u chicca! Here in Singapore, u have to pay for your own Rebif which will cost you S$2100 for 12 syringes... Very costly and way high for most of us here. Getting a subsidy for this also is like trying to squeeze water out of a rock...

oh, siren. I don't know what to say... I mean, I think living with MS or another serious desease is really, really hard even when you don't have to think how to manage in paying for the cure. I can't imagine what it can be if you must put your own wage (my wage for example wouldn't be enough...), the entire wage or maybe more to pay for the cure...
I had this kind of experience with my mother: she had a cancer, a rare cancer, for wich no chemotherapy is known. the only thing was operate, do a bit of radiotherapy and nothing more. after that, with my family decided that we could't just wait and see, so we started another therapy (studied by doctor DiBella, maybe you read something because here in Italy some years ago he has been criticised and boycotted a lot) which wasn't recognised from the "scientific community" (and so by the state).
Here if you follow a therapy recognised from the state you don't have to pay for it, otherwise you have to (but is also difficult to find a doctors thet prescribes it because they get into troubles with the national doctors association). for my mother we had to buy all by ourselves, and it costed us a great amount.
I can't believe that even for a treatment that is one of the few worldwide recognised to have a certain kind of effect on this desease people have to pay... besides rebif there are a lot of visits and tests (blood, ECG, RMN....) i think you have to pay also for there thing, do you? have you ever tried to ask directly to the productor (serono i think) if there is a way to reduce costs? maybe you already tried, but this is the only idea i got while writing....
kiss & hug
chicca

Ah, so the USA, in my opinion, is behind many other nations in terms of health care.

Yes, we have to worry about access to the medicine that is proven to keep us free from futher disability. If we don't take the medicine, we could become "burdens" of the state. But if we can't afford the medicine, what do we do?

How ironic. Also, for someone with MS to buy private health insurance would be absurd. It would be so expensive that 1 person as an individual with this pre-existing condition wouldn't be able to do it. Much less afford the medicine without insurance.

I guess in the US you have to find a employer that offers good insurance coverage. But that can change from year to year as it gets contracted with companies each year. And costs such as deductible and co-pays always go up.

Anyway, lthat's life in the USA. Hope the results of this election mean change is in the wind. We need some new thinkers to think outside the box on this one....

Sai, parlo italiano... Dove sei in italia?

jazzcat

Anyway, lthat's life in the USA. Hope the results of this election mean change is in the wind. We need some new thinkers to think outside the box on this one....


In this period, with financial crises... even in Italy things are changing. our new government started a policy of cut: they are cutting every thing... thay started from school and university and i think the next step will be sanity...



Sai, parlo italiano... Dove sei in italia?

Un americano che conosce l'italiano! E' raro, complimenti! Io vivo nel nord-est dell'Italia. Vicino Verona (la città di Romeo e Giulietta, Shakespeare, conosci?), sul lago di Garda. Sei mai stato in Italia?

jazzcat[/quote]

Hi everyone!

I am planning to relocate to Singapore, but can't find any trustworthy information on MS health care and medication costs in the country.
I know some members of the forum are based in Singapore. How much should I expect to pay per month for Rebif (I believe it is available)? Also, what is the official source of information on MS healthcare in Singapore (the Ministry of Health website could be more complete...)?

Thank you in advance for your help, looking forward to any tips you can provide!