Side by Side Comparison of IVIg

Very helpful Rod! I’ve been looking for something like this… I’m going to send it to my nurse too, he only does IVIg and uses different brands depending on the patient and their disease. We were talking about needing something like a comparison chart one day. Thanks!

What a great list! thanks….Gabrielle

I kept my medical payment receipts from both Medicare and Blue Cross. The neurologist’s clinic I went to for 2 years charged me being there by the hour and then a nursing hourly charge also. Putting in an IV was $ 136.00 each time. It was certainly an eye opener to see the outrageous charges for even one Tylenol pill. I started bringing my own Tylenol/Benadryl pills”’.
How can the places you went to charge such incredible prices???

I now have my infusions at home and the pharmacy/regional carrier of IVIG pays for the home health nurses and send all the medical supplies as “free” since Blue Cross paying $ 60,000.00 for 300 grams monthly of IVIG.

In March 2006 my IVIG paid by Medicare was $ 2,200.00 for 50 grams. Today my Blue Cross pays $ 10,000.00. IVIG has gone up by demand and/or just drug rates?

Whew! That’s a high price to pay for just one IVIG and the insurance companies are getting to be a joke. I do agree with you about the Healthcare System. Makes you think that if your rich we take you in and get our money but if your poor ohh well!
The prices are so high. You are right about 1 pill charging you outragious numbers. I have not recieved my hospital bill yet and am waiting to choke on it! LOL!

Gosh my back surgery ended up costing me a whopper too. I only stayed in the hospital not even 24 hours and they charged me $32,000.00 on that surgery for a Lumbar Laminectomy. Then sent me home to suffer! But I wonder why this type of treatment is so darn high!

Can’t believe some of these prices. Guess I should be thankful IVIG did not help me and the switch to PP was made. My PP with 1/2 gram of IV Sloumedrol is “only” $1981 per procedure. Of course the hospital bills a little over $3000, but the CIGNA contract pays the lower amout. Just thought I’d share the price comparison, but as we all know what works for one may not help another. Best to all
Fred

I live in third world country, so I should or have to ask this, as you spend so all that very so much money in treatments, don´t want to be rude but are all you bed driven?? Maybe I´m wrong and I´m in the wrong forum, or I´m not that bad. But if I were as this I don´t think I would get thousand dollar for any treatment.

I can’t speak for anyone else here but getting the IVIg took me from paralyzed head to toe stuck in bed staring at the ceiling to being able to walk on my own with braces and a cane. And continued use of IVIg keeps my immune system from going back to being paralyzed. It is my hope that I will be able to wean off of the IVIg at some point but right now we know that the IVIg only works for 15-17 days in me before my immune system takes over again and the numbness starts spreading again.

I think about other people with this disease all the time, I lived in a third world country for three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer and I cannot imagine how someone would be able to afford IVIg therapy, much less have access to it and at what personal cost. I feel guilty that I have no trouble getting IVIg and my insurance covers my entire treatment when I know that most everyone else here struggles with the cost or availability. I’m fortunate my husband’s work offers such good insurance, and the option to buy additional coverage which we have always done. I’m not oblivious to my good fortune, I only hope that I will get well enough and stable enough to be able to advocate for those less fortunate than me in a more meaningful way than I am able to now. 🙂

I do not feel guilty that Kevin is no longer paralyzed, with his bowels, bladder and lungs not functioning. I do not feel guilty that he is able to run like a normal little boy and ride his bike and irritate his brother and feed the ducks that visit him every day on our driveway for the entire month of October because of ivig. I feel blessed and humbled. I do feel saddened that others in other countries are not able to be afforded the same opportunities and I pray that they will find some sort of help, steroids, or what ever they can get. I feel even more saddened that people in the US are not afforded the same opportunities as Kevin. I don’t know what I could do to change their misfortune but I can’t feel guilty about Kevin. I hate being in this position. It honestly is a great source of anxiety in my life. It just is not fair for others who need ivig. Why is life so unfair, why are some sick, some healthy as the day they were born. Why do some people live long healthy lives while little children are afflicted with illness. I guess if I knew these answers I would be hmm… I don’t know, what would I be? Sorry about the sarcasm, I am just so sick and tired of all of the suffering the entire world is going through. I wish Adam and Eve never saw that apple!!! I’ll bounce back and get out of this duldrum soon, I just have to get over it, or myself??

ROd,
I wonder how bcbs pays differently state to state? It should be the same. YOur payout would be beneficial to us in the life time benefit amount. Kevin has home health, with the medicine and nursing for 4 days it was $163 dollars for a 2 hour block of nursing care, we neede 4 blocks since it was 6hrs and 40 minutes. Incidentally, that was the charge, the payout was $90. So $90 a day x4. The medicine, I can’t remember the latest per gram amount, but our total bill for then 90grams total over 4 days with nursing once a month was $17K. I think I better start complaining, because those lifetime benefits add up. Good luck with your future treatments and how wonderful that your doc is accomadating to your needs. We tto are fortunate to have a great doc. Have a really nice weekend and I hope your hamstring feels better.
Dawn Kevies mom

I absolutely do NOT feel guilty that my daughter receives IVIG. I would pay any amount of money for her to not ever feel that kind of pain. I would sell my house, my car, all my belongings, my soul to make sure she’s never paralyzed again.

We are lucky enough to have health insurance to pay our medical bills. I do not feel guilty that they have to pay all that money because my husband works hard for that insurance. He goes to work everyday to a job he hates – a job where very little appreciation is shown to him. He pays his dues at his crappy job so my daughter can get her treatments.

I do feel bad that others go without. But at the same time, I cannot sentence my daughter to a life of pain & paralyzation just because that’s the fate of others in the world. Was I to tell her, at 4 years old, that she would spend the rest of her life not being able to feed herself, get dressed, walk, run, jump or climb just because some where else on this earth it happens? I think not.

I am raising my daughter to understand how lucky she is. She knows others in this world do not have half of things she has. She knows others do not receive their medicine because they can’t afford it or it isn’t available to them. Maybe by saving my daughter from that horrible fate she will grow up & change the world. Maybe she will go to 3rd world countries & help them receive medications & medical care.

We give back to our community & to those who are in need as much as we can. We try to “pay it forward” & hope we can continue to receive all the blessings IVIG has brought to us.

Kelly

Julie,
You should not feel guilty. You have been through alot and continue to suffer. If we have the ability to get ivig, why should we feel guilty? Just blessed. I wish everyone could get ivig.
Dawn

Julie, Stacey, and Dawn,

How fortunate for all of us that we have access to the services and medications we do. It is unfortunate that others don’t. You should not feel guilty but rather empathetic to the plights of other less fortunate individuals. I sensed that empathy in all your responses. As I always say, it is what it is. And Stacey, I believe the same as you….”Pay it forward.” Good for all of you for being so wonderful.

I´m sorry I started this cross fire guilty messages.
I think that if you have the insurance paying thousands dollar for your treatment you should use and take profit of it, of course. And even sell your house to pay for a son or daughter treatment is a act of love, do not feel guilty.
The ones we do not have ivig, we have prednisone, and other medicines we should find out. I found out that the sulfasalazine antibiotic works for me, and I´m lucky is cheap, the same as gabapentin. I also think exercise and physiotherapy is more than 50% of recovery or stabilize this disease. And more, we have this forum with spirit support.

Feeling guilty about my good fortune is nothing new for me, I’ve spent my entire career in public service and volunteerism recognizing the disparity of the have’s and have not’s. I was just out looking at my yard today and thinking there would probably be 100 families living on it in a Botswana village and likely 100 times that number in Japan. I recognize that I can only make small changes but knowing that I am fortunate has helped me come to terms with this disease. I could be a lot worse physically, and in a worse position socio-economically as well. When I was in the Peace Corps I worked with UNICEF to bring about some changes in the laws dealing with disabled and orphaned children in Botswana. I saw first hand the difficulties families had providing care for their disabled loved ones. I can’t even imagine having to leave my paralyzed child alone all day hoping a neighbor would look in on her because I had to go out searching for food or I had a job. By the time I finally left there were social services in place to help and grants for wheelchairs and medical care, not all done by me, I was just one of many wheels on the bus. Never in my wildest dreams then did I ever imagine I would end up paralyzed sitting at home alone all day myself, well only partially paralyzed now. I am grateful for my good fortune but I can’t stop feeling guilty that so many are still suffering. Call it a character flaw. :rolleyes: