Topic: How much did your Neulasta shot cost?

May 4, 2010 09:49PM crazy4carrots wrote:

I am so amazed that there is such a wide variation in costs and the amounts your various insurance carriers are willing to pay.  One would think that insurers would have some sort of communal "ballpark" figure for tx.  For example: why would Company A be okay with paying $11,000/neulasta shot while Company B only has to pay out half, or less than half, that amount?

What am I missing here?

May 5, 2010 07:42PM crazy4carrots wrote:

Madalyn, I understand what you're saying about the different insurance agreements with various health providers -- BUT -- I'm still a bit befuddled!  Why would 123Donna's insurance company agree to pay $11,000 per neulasta shot when other insurers are paying far less?  Why would it continue to deal with that particular provider when it would surely know that other providers are charging less?  Or does the law of averages come into play? 

I know I'm at a disadvantage here because I'm used to single-payer, non-profit healthcare  (hmmm, some disadvantage eh?) where costs are the same across the board, so I have some difficulty in understanding all the ins and outs of the for-profit system  But any way you slice it, in the end some patients (or their employers) are apparently paying more than the fair market price.  This must surely be reflected in the cost of premiums....

May 5, 2010 09:36PM MNLinda wrote:

www.cancercare.org.

My Neulasta was $12439.60 per shot, but the insurance company knocked it down to $2502.88 each time.

Dec 3, 2011 04:59PM Racy wrote:

I haven't read this entire thread but the cost shown on my product box was about $1785 per shot. That's in Australia. I didn't pay a cent as it was prescribed in hospital and covered by some form of medical insurance. I have no idea why the cost for US ladies is so much higher.

Feb 3, 2012 12:27AM tracyscorner wrote:

$ 18,000.00 dollar Nuelasta shot at Moffitt Cancer Center for Mantle Cell Lymphoma Chemo Treatment . She will have 8 of these over 4 mths. Oh well ,if it saves her life , who gives a damn....i'd sell my house and everything else i have  to save my tracy's life !

Feb 9, 2012 02:44PM SuzieQToo wrote:

Wow! I'm in Canada.  Each Neulasta shot is $2500. 

Feb 9, 2012 04:03PM jenlee wrote:

I know this is an old thread, but...

I'm working on my medical bills and am my head is rolling at the outrageous amounts on the medical bills.  My neulasta shots are $5492 each.

My insurance company has a contracted rate with a mailorder pharmacy, so the MO's office has to order it from them. 

Jun 3, 2012 11:59AM tomrocha wrote:

The phameceutical companies would like you to think the cost is to recover the cost of research and development but there is a very, very large element of B.S. in that statement. Any prior year expenses incurred in the development were written off in those years yet the companies' still prospered. Nor does that explanation explain why the companies' charge U.S. customers much higher amounts than overseas customers.

Sep 3, 2012 12:57PM - edited Feb 15, 2013 08:01PM by Cottontail

Sep 6, 2012 06:15PM SweetCaroline2 wrote:

Cottontail- for those who don't have insurance, you can google the Neulasta website and apply to recieve FREE Neulasta from the company. I have insurance, but I complained bitterly about the $10,000 bill for my first Neulasta injection (after insurance adjustment, I paid $1500 for the shot) and my oncologists office applied to Neulasta for me and all of my following injections were FREE! I recieved something that looks like a credit card that I show the staff at the chemotherapy center. 

Jul 2, 2013 09:03PM cancerfamilytx wrote:

I know this thread is old but I had to comment on the cost of Neulasta as I see others continue to do so.  My wife just finished chemo and took the a Neulasta shot after each of 6 cycles.  We think it helped but blood counts were still erratic. Our insurance was billed at about $5,700 per shot but through the "negotiated” rates only paid $2,800.  What’s really amazing is there’s only 6mg (mg = milligrams) of medicine in each shot at that price!  If you do the math at $5,700 per 6mg that makes this stuff cost about $27 MILLION per ounce.  That’s outrageous, even if made from Unicorn tears and Fairy dust.   How much could it have really cost to research develop and manufacture?  TO put in prospective, a regular 12 oz 6-pack (pardon the comparison) would cost almost $2 Billion! I know they’ve made at least that much of the stuff through the years.

Offering to pay part of the cost also makes me suspicious too.

Nov 2, 2013 10:20AM - edited Nov 2, 2013 10:24AM by Chemonurse

The reason you were billed the same is because Neulasta is a pre-filled single dose syringe. Sometimes the doctors will choose to lower your dose. So only part of a syringe is used. Due to it being a single dose, the remaining medication can not be reused and has to be discarded. When it is billed to the insurance we have to put your dose plus how much was wasted. So the total billed is always the same number of units.

Also in regards to cost, insurance only pays a certain % of medication regardless of what type of insurance. In order to break even, facilities must charge certain % higher so that insurances will reimburse the cost of the initial. I work in outpatient chemotherapy center. We do not make money on the medications. We make money on the administration. Very offer we actually lose money on the medication itself. With obamacare coming, I guarantee we will barely break even.

Jul 14, 2016 09:06PM 7of9 wrote:

my hospital billed $18000 for a neulasta shot!!!! Cmon pharmaceutical company....that was my downpayment on my house!!! This is too screwed up for words. Yes, I think companies should make money for research but $18 grand a shot!?! I had four of these... Thats half my house...BS...it worked but what was in it, liquid gold? For that much it should cure the damn disease...so angry...

Jul 14, 2016 10:07PM Maya15 wrote:

I think I win this one so far. My hospital billed $23,000 per shot! I had 6. I thought that was extortionately expensive when I was on AC. But then came Taxol/Herceptin/Perjeta. For Herceptin they billed $46,000 per dose and Perjeta $93,000 each!!! I'm up to around 2 million dollars so far this year. I could mortgage my whole apartment, it would still only pay for one chemo session. And even then it doesn't guarantee a cure.

Jul 16, 2016 12:23AM molliefish wrote:

This is ridiculous the money they are charging... I am fortunate to have coverage and my Neulasta shots in Canada cost my insurance about $2400 all in.. I had 4 of them.