It has been one year since my post-surgery pain- & insomnia-induced rant about health insurance. I continue to tabulate all my cancer-related expenses; it's been a good six months since my last financial update. Since then, the Neulasta billing problem was remedied (finally), I finished chemo, I had radiation and a scan and a procedure, but I haven't seen that many benefit statements. I haven't seen anything related to the radiation, and still only saw the one set of charges last fall that appeared to be for chemotherapy. I won't pretend to understand how any of it works.
In support of continued transparency, here are the numbers as of the last EOB I received, as of 8/19/16:
Chemotherapy 6,645.22
Chemotherapy-related 126,589.98 (Neulasta)
Clinic/Consultation 1,076.00
Emergency Room 1,949.00
Inpatient 6,687.34
Labs/Scans 31,457.00
Medical Supplies 2,059.57
Surgery 16,516.50
TOTAL 193,159.53
And an updated out-of-pocket breakdown:
Clothing/supplies 169.82
Copays- appts 275.00
Copays- scrips 41.47
Food 418.57
Parking 620.00
TOTAL OOP 1,524.86
Wicked-sobering grand total: 194,684.39
Notice that the Neulasta is a solid 65% of the grand total. I found that especially striking in light of the recent controversy surrounding the Epipen price hike. I'll bet a significant percentage of patients undergoing any chemotherapy regimen end up needing Neulasta to support their immune systems. I'll bet a not significant percentage of those patients have the miraculous health insurance that I do. It boggles the mind.
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