50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

KCgeezer,

Yes I could see a Clinical Trial being crazy expensive. Another drug that was expensive was the Neulasta to support the white blood cells. That was given the day after chemo at $6,000 a pop. Beats trips to the ER.

Igy

I am pretty sure Neulasta is on our PBS as a friend had it given during his cancer treatment as a public patient (i.e no cost to the patient).

mo’pac,

Good drug. One of the more serious complications of chemotherapy is neutropenia (low white cell count) and secondary infections. Neulasta is administered once 24 hours after each infusion. The drug had a couple of side effects for me, temperature approaching 100 and flushing, all gone within a day. In the states there is a drug company commercial promoting the drug with smiling users. It was never that thrilling for me. ??

Igy

Charlie wrote:

Please do read this about a ground breaking NEW way to use your own immune system to CURE CANCER

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/research/car-t-cells

Charlie, rituximab, the drug Igy and I have both taken over the years, works that way too. Vaccines are next but the research is well underway. I agree, though, the gov't could be funding this in a ARPAnet/moonshot way, not a foreign-aid-to-Libya way.

Also, patents for immunotherapies never expire, which means they never go generic (i.e., cheap), which is a big problem if you ask me.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

In the states there is a drug company commercial promoting the drug with smiling users. It was never that thrilling for me.

Just saw that ad tonight. I got Neupogen. It was cheaper (for my insurer) and I could self-administer. Later I donated my unused vials to the free clinic. I never saw a TV ad for Neupogen.

Drug companies are addicted to cancer.

KCgeezer wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

In the states there is a drug company commercial promoting the drug with smiling users. It was never that thrilling for me.

Just saw that ad tonight. I got Neupogen. It was cheaper (for my insurer) and I could self-administer. Later I donated my unused vials to the free clinic. I never saw a TV ad for Neupogen.

Weird. Never imagined a TV ad for that sort of product. I guess there is no market here in Australia to make it worthwhile (not sure it would be allowed anyway). I haven't heard the name Neupogen. I will look it up on the PBS site to see if it is publically available.

Yep Filgristim or Neupogen. It is on the PBS list. Maximum price that can be charged is $Aus 39.50 per dose.

Neulasta is Pegfilgristim so I assume very similar substance. Price would be the same here as $Aus 39.50 would be the maximum charge. for any such approved drug.

mo’pac,

In the States at age 65 you are Medicare eligible if you are no longer working (not me). I asked my running mate who diagnosed me (endocrinologist) how my treatment would be charged under Medicare. His view it would be $50,000 rather than $400,000. There is a somewhat incestuous relationship betweeen the pharmaceutical companies and the insurers. One sees this in the broader universal coverage under the Affordabale Care Act also referred to as Obama Care. My company plan is a “Cadillac Plan” where my cost is $250/month and my employer provides a benefit that is over double that amount and coverage is extended to my wife. I have a deductible and co-pays that can drive up out of pocket expensive. I would estimate that my cost beyond the monthly cost is $2,000. The plan also eliminates any co-pays (cost to see a new specialist) once diagnosed with cancer. I am also provided a case nurse by the insurer that calls me every three weeks to check in and answer questions. If I choose I can pursue regional cancer research hospitals for second opinions and access to specialists in my disease with travel costs included. I am pretty fortunate to have been still working. I do believe things would have worked well under the government Medicare, however with “Cadillac Plan” the medical providers knew right of the bat that cost are covered at a higher rate. If I relapse next year everything resets and the process starts over again. Right or wrong there is a system incentive to take care of Igy.

Igy

Yeah, I don’t know what the system thinks of me, so I don’t take my chances. I try to be a proactive patient. That said, the bulk of my expenses have been covered through clinical trials over the years. In between the trials, though, I was on the hook. And as the insurance situation in the United States deteriorated in the years prior to ACA – let me repeat that, the years prior to ACA – I found myself setting aside thousands of dollars every year in the event that I might need to be treated. I think I wound up using my entire deductible once every three years.

Today I have a high deductible plan which still cost $500 a month, or 2 1/2 times what a policy cost me five years ago at the start of ACA. In addition, this year I began a secondary policy that pays me cash – equivalent to one year‘s deductible – should I need hospitalization or have an accident. If I need it just once between now and the time I go on Medicare, it pays for itself. By the way that’s 12 years from now.

7 years ago I produced some test irregularities after some minor health issues. Since then I have had dozens of blood tests a few biopsies an MRI and about 25 consultations. On top of that a few crashes have meant a few xrays and stitches/glueing to various lacs.

The upfront cost to me for all this has been $0.

I have no health insurance either.

Of course nothing is really free.

We Aussies pay a Medicare levy of 2% of our taxable income annually, assuming you earn above the tax free threshold ($20 something grand).

Eleven years ago I had a twisted gut that resulted in emergency surgery and the loss of about a quarter of my large intestine. Fortunately the human gut has a lot of redundancy and once everything was healed I noticed no difference in how anything worked. I was in the hospital for six days, mainly because I had to receive all fluids and nourishment by IV while my gut healed. Otherwise I didn't receive (or need) much care while in the hospital and I basically just sat around in bed, occasionally getting up to walk the floor of my ward. I was stunned to receive a total bill of $45K, of which only about $900 went to the surgeon who did the procedure (I think he deserved a lot more!). How six days of minimal hospital care cost $44K is beyond me. Anyway, the insurance that I have through my employer paid something like $27K and the hospital was happy. I ended up paying only about $250 out of pocket.

I realize that hospitals have to charge insurers way more than their actual costs in order to compensate for the patients they treat who can pay little or nothing, and perhaps also to compensate for inadequate Medicare payments. But although I can't complain about my own experience, it's a crazy system.

amkelley, can you email me, I have a possible option on your foot sizing issues?

Finally got in a good long run, on Sunday, of 12.5 miles, at 10:07 pace, cooler day, so feel like I can at least finish the 1/2 marathon next month.

Mike, how do I get in touch with you?

Yikes! ? Was that running related?

by way of introduction, i'm a 45-year-old man who didn't start running until age 33, but was quickly sucked into its joys, especially after discovering trail running here in the finger lakes region of new york state. my passion is training for and Biking, and revel in the adventure that a new trail can offer, especially when i can share it with other runners. i also dabble now and then in shorter stuff, such as my first-for-me experiments with xc and the indoor mile this past fall and winter.

my letsrun screenname derives from a time when i was coming back from a stress fracture, and unfortunately, as of this past wednesday, it no longer applies. i guess you can call me "no longer no longer stressed," since i did a number on my fourth metatarsal on wednesday and therefore wasn't able to become caked in the mud of the 30-mile race i had looked forward to running yesterday (instead, i was on the other side of the aid station table as my husband ran). well, at least it happened at a time of year when i'll have a couple of months ahead of warm weather, since i'll be logging my miles on my road bike instead of runnable trails for the time being. so, discounting a few pleasant but unexceptional runs before my new injury, i'll report a lovely 32-mile ride this morning in warm, breezy sunshine past cows, sheep, and alpacas, many small ponds and one big lake, fields of just-up corn and flourishing winter wheat, and only a modicum of roadkill. that'll be my exercise life until late july when i'm back on my feet, and i know it could be much worse.

I'm glad you can turn to a complementary exercise -- not everyone finds a backup sport that makes them happy! Welcome.

William, your situation is incredibly similar to that of a woman who posted here back in 2011. It was springtime, then, so she actually could confidently look forward to a few months of cycling weather in central NYS. But, yeah we may get lucky and have a nice December this year ...

Sleuthing detective work Holmes. ?️‍♀️