How much will this cost?

[eodtech2001]

Well I can tell you that hospitals not the doctors are crooks. Make sure that you get your EOB and it states you have reached your out of pocket max. Included with that make sure you understand what the contract agreement is between your insurance and the hospital. If not they will try to make you pay what they feel they should get instead of the contract amount. The Mayo clinic is one of the worst offenders for this. In hindsight retain a lawyer to be the middle guy. Cause hospitals are crooks.

[JohanusEU]

Hi All, these prices are just ridiculous. Fortunately, I live in EU where everything is fully covered by basic health insurance.

[ady2014]

It is insane how much they charge for these medications!

[k.strehle]

cost

hello all

been reading some costs and had to give a little insight of my cancer ride. 4 rnds in patient bep, 3 rnds in patient tip, numerous shots. im thinking 2 3-4 day stays with transfusions. 2 stays with septsis ? ct scans, it goes on and on. left orciectomy, rplnd (indy) numerous docter appts. meds, i stopped figuring at 400k as it was still going up. that was 3 yrs ago ...may last chemo was 3-16-07. i cant complain about insurance at that time. we switched carriers this year ( contract) and im glad i it happened when it did.

k.

[gilly6993]

My two Neulesta shots were billed out at $8500 each....insurance paid a little under $6K each....

[Vinny]

It aint cheap to have cancer I wonder why such a difference in the Neulasta. Could Boston be that more expensive? I could have opted to get the shots at home but my co-pay would have been $50 a shot but if I had them administered at the hospital then they were paid in full by my insurance.

My insurance company actually called me and asked if I wanted to have the Neulasta sent to me at home instead of getting them from the doctor. It was something like $6k at the Dr vs $3k at home and while they would pay either way (I had an MSA and met the deductible after the I/O), they reminded me I did have a lifetime limit in coverage and every penny counts.

[chemo boy]

Thanks!

It aint cheap to have cancer I wonder why such a difference in the Neulasta. Could Boston be that more expensive? I could have opted to get the shots at home but my co-pay would have been $50 a shot but if I had them administered at the hospital then they were paid in full by my insurance.

Rich

[Vinny]

I didn't read that Vinny's totals were the negotiated price. Who knows what they were to start.

Since you asked, here's the undiscounted prices:

Orchiectomy $8,300
4xBEP, including miscellaneous scripts and Neulasta injections $94,000 (the Neulasta shots were about $18,000 in total - after the first one I had them home delivered and a friend administered them - saved big bucks)
CT scan and radiologist fee $3,200
RPLND (@ IU, including inpatient stay) $28,000
Surveillance visit (including tumor markers) $400 - $500

Nearly all of this (except the RPLND) was in Columbia, MO. My surveillance visits are now in Chicago and the "rack rate" for those visits and CT scans are only about $100 more than they were in Missouri.

[chemo boy]

Ooops!

I didn't read that Vinny's totals were the negotiated price. Who knows what they were to start.

[chemo boy]

(the Neulasta shots were about $12,000 in total)

WOW...prices realy do vary. I was treated at DFCI and the Neulasta shots were $14,049 EACH!!! for a total of $42,000 +\- for just the Neulasta alone I'm sure that this was negotiated down by my insurance company.

I was given the option of getting the Neulasta injections at my drugstore, for self injectiion, and the price would have been nearly $6,000 each shot!

I guess it makes more dollars the sense

Rich

[tcelano]

TC Costs

Wow, Vinny, where do you live? My orchiectomy cost at least $10,000 in Portland, OR. I think the bills from the Anaesthesologist alone came near $2,000. The surgeon only charged me around $600, but the hospital charge was over $8,000. The good news is that they did a good job...

I am at the end of the first of three cycles of BEP. I don't know how much this is costing yet, but I'll visit back here to update when I get some bills.

[Vinny]

Here's some examples from my history.

Negotiated price (after insurance discount):

Orchiectomy $2,200
4xBEP, including miscellaneous scripts and Neulasta injections $45,000 (the Neulasta shots were about $12,000 in total)
CT scan and radiologist fee $1,600
RPLND (@ IU, including inpatient stay) $25,000
Surveillance visit (including tumor markers) $200 - $250

[Vaness(Aless)]

heya,

ale also started chemo (adjuvant 2xBEP) 7 weeks after his orchiectomy, but at 6 weeks he was re-staged (markers, CT, xray) to make sure he was still at the same stage.

good luck, let us know!

[dano]

cost significantly more than that...

I had the orch. in October and RPLND in December... costs leading up to and following the orch. were 40k+ (including ultrasound, 1 night hospital because of internal bleeding and post op scans). The RPLND and all that was involved has topped well over 100k. I hit my maximum out of pocket early on and am now just watching the claims/bills pile up. This is what health care is for! Make sure you're proactive about following up with claims and billing though- it might be worth so phone calls to make sure that hospitals and your health care are working together.

Dano

[UniJeff]

Thanks Scott! Looks like I'll have no problem hitting my out of pocket max on insurance. That gives me enough info to get a rough range on how many co-pays I'm looking at as well.