hepatitis C

California Pays Insurers Millions More For Hepatitis C Drugs

3:10pm January 28, 2016

by Pauline Bartolone

Private insurers billed California $387.5 million to treat just 3,624 patients with new medications for hepatitis C. The people are covered by the state's Medicaid program.

A 12-week regimen of Harvoni is 90 percent effective in curing an infection with hepatitis C, doctors say. It also costs about $95,000.

States Deny Pricey Hepatitis C Drugs To Most Medicaid Patients

3:42pm December 28, 2015

by Jake Harper

Effective treatments for hepatitis C cost as much as $95,000. Medicaid in many states, including Indiana, is mostly limiting the drugs' use to very advanced cases. ACLU of Indiana is suing the state.

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Sovaldi can cure hepatitis C, but the medicine carries a list price of $1,000 a pill. The typical 12-week course of treatment would cost $84,000.

Hepatitis Drug Among The Most Costly For Medicaid

6:52pm December 15, 2015

by Alison Kodjak

A Senate investigation finds that Medicaid programs in 33 states spent more than $1 billion on the hepatitis C drug Sovaldi in a single year.

A recent analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that Medicare recipients taking Revlimid for cancer could end up paying, on average, $11,538 out of pocket for the drug in 2016, even if the medicine is covered by their Medicare Part D plan.

Specialty Drugs Can Prove Expensive Even With Medicare Coverage

10:21am December 03, 2015

by Alison Kodjak

Medicare insurance plans for drugs vary widely in the medicines they cover. For 2016, some patients who pick the wrong plan could pay nearly $12,000 out of pocket annually for a single drug.

Harvoni is one of the new medications for hepatitis C that can cure almost all infections.

Treating Prisoners With Hepatitis C May Be Worth The Hefty Price

5:04pm November 23, 2015

by Alison Kodjak

About 15 percent of people in prison are infected with hepatitis C. Screening and treating inmates would save $750 million over 30 years and prevent many new cases in the general public.

Retired California school teacher Mikkel Lawrence sits with his cat, Max. Lawrence has hepatitis C and has struggled to afford the medicine he needs to treat it.

Covered California Votes To Cap What Patients Pay For Pricey Drugs

5:30am June 24, 2015

by April Dembosky

The agency that administers Obamacare in California moved to make expensive medicines more affordable in 2016. In most plans, patients will pay no more than $150 or $250 a month.

Volunteer Patrick Pezzati searches yards in Turners Falls, Mass., for discarded heroin needles.

A Rural Police Chief Asks Citizens To Help Pick Up Used Syringes

8:55pm May 03, 2015

by Karen Brown

The rise in heroin use in the town of Turners Falls, Mass., has led to another problem: a proliferation of discarded hypodermic needles. Police can't keep up, so they've asked residents to help.

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CDC Warns More HIV, Hepatitis C Outbreaks Likely Among Drug Users

12:29am April 27, 2015

by Anders Kelto

The U.S. epidemic of injected-opioid use could lead to more severe outbreaks of HIV and hepatitis C, like those now occurring in Indiana, the Centers for Disease Control And Prevention says.

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Dr. Michael Poshkus treats inmates with hepatitis C at the John J. Moran Medium Security facility in Cranston, R.I. Some 12 to 35 percent of inmates nationwide are afflicted with the chronic liver disease.

Costly Hepatitis C Drugs Threaten To Bust Prison Budgets

3:45pm January 04, 2015

by Kristin Gourlay

Inmates in the U.S. have a high rate of infection with chronic hepatitis C — up to 35 percent or more by some estimates. New drugs introduced this year can cure the disease quickly, but at a cost.

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Gilead's once-a-day pill for hepatitis C is the latest expensive and effective treatment that insurers say is a business challenge.

Health & Safety

Insurers May Cover Costly Hepatitis C Drugs Only For The Very Ill

11:27am October 28, 2014

by Michelle Andrews

Many insurers are restricting access to new drugs that are easier to take and that promise higher cure rates because the price tags can run $95,000 or more.