welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Monday, February 10, 2020

something is just wrong about all this

SOMETHING IS JUST WRONG ABOUT THIS

this is a picture of the 5 fu cream i just used on my nose for 6 weeks to do the followup treatment for my basal cell cancer removed via plastic surgery last year
this drug has been around my whole medical career
its been generic for a long long time
it costs me around $250 out of my own pocket

my alzheimers drug aducanumab may come on the market within two years
if its shown to work or help to slow down alzheimers disease
then
i will start taking it once a month outside of the research world

the cost is estimated to be around $4000-$5000 an infusion
or
about $50000-60000 a year
my guess is much of it may not be covered

i have a relative that receives humira for her arthritis
it makes a difference in how mobile she is and how much pain she has
it probably costs around $50000-$60000 a year to receive it
lucky for her i think hers is covered by her insurance

i have another relative who has another connective disease that may one day
require a similar monthly treatment
at about the same costs of $50000-$60000 a year
she is covered by the same insurance as the other relative
lucky them

i wont be as well covered
just see what i paid above for that old 5 fu cream
other folks arent as well covered either

one of the issues in the 2016 campaign for president was drug costs

neither side has done really anything to fix it

its getting some mention in the 2020 campaign but i really dont see either side giving a good solution to this problem

me thinks there may be too much lobbying and influence from those who control those drug prices

unless we all no matter our politics get mad and ticked at both sides and complain about this
then it wont get fixed
we will be talking about this again in 4 years

this morning this article linked here tells this story about a school employee who is from utah
she is on one of those infusion drugs like i will be on and my family members is on
she has rheumatoid arthritis
this drug like my relatives drug keeps her mobile and pain free and able to keep working
without it she would be disabled

the insurance company flies her from salt lake city utah to san diego
then an escort picks her up there and takes her to a tijuana mexico hospital to see a doctor in tijuana
she gets her enbrel
the escort takes her back to the san diego airport
she flies back to utah
then
goes back to work

she was paying a $450 a month copay which was going up to $2400 a month

all this costs her nothing
the insurance company pays for it
and
saves money by doing all of this
they also pay her a $500 bonus for doing this

now
this is just one patient imagine what it costs for several folks to have to do this

this isnt the solution we or at least i was thinking of when i complained about the drug prices

if this ticks you off just read that article
talk about saying something about our political system

if you see your local federal politician ie senator or house representative ask them to explain this one
dont let them double speak you
i bet both sides double speak you

something is just wrong about all this

the organicgreen doctor

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