health insurance

A Health Insurance Address Change Sends Me Down the Rabbit Hole

For my wife, Laura, and I, trying to change our address on our health insurance accounts last week was like following Alice down the rabbit hole. As Lewis Carroll wrote in the classic children’s novel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”: “The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some…

Expert Voices: Financial planning for people with multiple sclerosis

In the first installment of our new series, “Expert Voices,” Multiple Sclerosis News Today asked Martin Shenkman, a certified public accountant and lawyer, to answer some of your questions related to financial planning for people with multiple sclerosis (MS).Ā  Shenkman is an attorney in private practice in Fort Lee, New…

Overall Cost of DMTs Stable 2018ā€“2020, Study Finds

The overall cost of disease-modifying therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS) in the U.S. remained stable from 2018 to 2020, according to pharmacy and medical claims data from Prime Therapeuticsā€™ insured members. This stabilization derived from a balance between a reduction in Copaxone (glatiramer acetate injection) use due…

It Shouldn’t Be This Hard to Get Our MS Medications

I got a phone call from my MS One to One nurse, Lynn, today. One to One is the patient support service provided by Sanofi Genzyme for patients on the biotech company’s MS disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) and Aubagio (teriflunomide). Lynn called to ensure that all…

She Has MS, She Voted for Obamacare, and She’s Worried

Donna Edwards has multiple sclerosis. Edwards is currently unemployed. But a year ago she had a well-paying job with excellent medical benefits. Edwards was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In fact, she represented the congressional district where I once lived. (Courtesy of former…

Speak Up to Keep the Cost of MS from Costing You More

I’ve just been reminded, as someone with multiple sclerosis, how fortunate I am to have good medical insurance. Unlike most other countries, where medical care is a right, in the U.S. that care is a privilege. Here the quality of care and too often the availability of that…

Access to MS Therapy in US Often Determined by Patients’ Insurance Coverage

Individual health insurance coverage largely determinesĀ aĀ multiple sclerosis (MS) patient’s access to disease modifying drugs in the United States, mainly because of the rising costs of newer medications and near-annualĀ changes in insurance policy coverage, usually making such coverage more restrictive, researchers report. Ā These twin problemsĀ oftenĀ leave MSĀ patientsĀ relying on suboptimal therapiesĀ rather than those…