Showing posts with label Medicaire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medicaire. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Medicare pays for $93,000 Drug That Extends life 4 Months?

Medicare will now pay for a prostate cancer drug called Provenge that costs $93,000 and only promises to extend life for 4 months?

What's wrong with this picture?

According to the linked article, "Medicare is legally prohibited from considering price when deciding whether to pay for a new treatment." If I were CEO of a pharmaceutical company, I would see this rule as a license to print money, as I'm sure the forward thinking folks at Dendreon Corp., the company that makes Provenge, obviously did. They estimate $1 billion in sales next year alone!

Question: Is death so frightening that a person would spend $93,000 to stave it off just 4 months?

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