Sovaldi is a $1,000-a-pill medication to treat hepatitis C, patient could pay the high cost medical. Human Services Division issued that Medicaid only pay for Sovaldi when the patient is in a critical stage. Hepatitis C is a deadly viral illness that infect 4.4 millions Americans. Insurance company fears that supporting Hepatitis C patient with Sovaldi will exhaust their financial resource. Hepatitis C is the leading cause of liver transplants, which cost about $250,000 per surgery. Hepatitis C treatment largely relies on Interferon, a toxic and potentially life-threatening drug. Side effects of Interferon includes anemia, depression, and in rare cases, death.
Question 2
Sovaldi will only be given to the critical stage patient under Medicaid program, to balance the effective use of taxpayer funds stated by Human Service Division. But there is a large number of Hepatitis C patients that unable to pay for Sovaldi treatment because of the high cost. In this case the dilemma is the patients understands…show more content… The drug companies have an expectation to earn a return on their investment. If they sell Sovaldi at a lower price, they might have to bear the extra cost and will face problem.
Hepatitis C patient, they depended on the Sovaldi to get treated. But Medicaid only provide Sovaldi to those that are in critical stage. If they buy themselves, it would drain their financial resources. And the last option would be accepting Interferon treatment, which might lead to side effects or accept liver transplants.
Insurance company provides the client the coverage from the insurance. Ultimately, the client is financially protected by the insurance. The insurance unable to provide coverage for Sovaldi treatment for the Hepatitis C patients because the cost of $84,000 for 12 week would exhaust their financial resources.
