Synagis shots

I'm sure somebody has posted something similar to this already, but I just can't believe it. I just got the bill for the first Synagis shots. One baby was $3400 & some change, the other was $3600 & some chage. Is it just me, or is that ridiculous?? Insurance covered the whole thing, but that's not the point. Medical costs are outrageous!! Now we get the very same thing for the next 5 months. That will be a total of $42,000 just for Synagis. It's just crazy!

 

Even more scary is that the cost goes up each month as the dosage and therefore the cost is based on the child's weight.

 

Thank GOD I moved to country with National Health Care! Lord, that's insane!!!!

 

We have pretty good insurance, and we're paying $100 per child/month (=$200) which we still consider pretty hefty for our family. Plus, it's work benefits, so my husband works very hard for the benefits we do get.

I'm against nationalized/universal Health Care, and I'm willing to pay for my children to get whatever care they need since they are my responsibility and not my neighbor's responsibility.

 

We were told here in Michigan that BCBS would be billed $800 per shot. It is amazing that the price can vary so outrageously. We ended up not going with the shots because Max's cardiologist said no .

 

Yes, they are expensive, but well worth it to an insurance company when you look at the total cost it would be if a premature infant gets RSV and needs to be hospitalized for a few days. We got them for the first RSV season too.

 

QUOTE(Emily@Home @ Dec 1 2008, 12:08 PM) [snapback]1091709[/snapback]
We have pretty good insurance, and we're paying $100 per child/month (=$200) which we still consider pretty hefty for our family. Plus, it's work benefits, so my husband works very hard for the benefits we do get.

I'm against nationalized/universal Health Care, and I'm willing to pay for my children to get whatever care they need since they are my responsibility and not my neighbor's responsibility.


As are mine. On universal healthcare, everyone becomes eveyone elses responsibility, it is not one segment of the poplulation paying for everyone else. Believe me, my husband and I are very able to pay for anything the children need, and seeing as how we pay a heftier than average tax bill each year due to our tax bracket, we do in essence pay for our insurance, as do a large percentage of British citizens. However, I am not at all unwilling at all to have my tax money go for other children whose parents *do* also work really hard, but could never afford insurance for them if they had to. Or old folks who have no way to care for themselves, or for that matter, *anyone* of *any age* who isn't as fortunate as me, or hasn't been able to plan as well as my hubby and I have.
In the states I worked two jobs from the time I was 13. As an adult, I had damned good insurance, through John Deere, so up until two years ago, I was privately insured as well, and paid for it all through the same hard work your husband does to pay for yours. Since I've moved here, this is the first time in my life I've never worked.

IMO, medical care is a right, not a privelege, and insurance companies and doctors and hospitals are simply out to make a profit like any other business. I think $3400 for an injection is plain old stupid,greedy and unethical. Period. To imply that folks who can't pay that amount for an injection (which, frankly, in the US, is most people!) are somehow irresponsible or bad parents is ridiculous.

 

The cost of Synagis is definitely ridiculous. Thank goodness for insurance!

 

FYI: Synagis is not a vaccine. In a vaccine, a virus/toxin/bacteria (in some form) is presented to the body which in turn makes antibodies. Synagis is antibodies to RSV. Which is why it is so expensive and why it needs to be given every month. I wish my twins qualified. They were born at 35w3d and needed to be under 35w for my insurance to cover it. Instead, I'm told by pediatrician to avoid crowds for all of RSV season (Nov through April). Lot's of fun.

 

Thankfully our ins. Covered them for our boys aswsell. I could not even imagine having to pay for these out of pocket. If we had to we would not have been able to get them. The boys got them for 2 RSV seasons.

 

My ped. told me that they were about $1,000 each. Thankfully our insurance covers it but even if they didn't, it's not nearly as expensive as a hospital stay.

 

When my older DD was born she was born at 32 weeks and easily qualified for insurance to cover the cost of Synegis shots. But she got RSV right before her first shot Thankfully she wasn't hospitalized but was very sick and had to have very expensive medicine. I did not have to pay anything as it was covered completely. I worked at the time and we were all insured through my job.
Since the boys were born I have quit working and had a very difficult time getting the whole family insured for a price we can afford. We have an individual BCBS policy now and DH is still not insured. This insurance will not cover these shots. Regardless of when the boys were born. which was at 34 wks 5d. Pedi is ok with them not getting the shots since I stay at home with them all day and asked that we avoid too many crowded places also. The fact that these shots are so expensive and insurance is so expensive is a very big reason I wish I could still work at my previous job. but the paycheck vs daycare issue is something that I cannot balance AND have someone else raise my kids. It's just not worth it.

 

For some reason, Medicaid denied paying for Synagis. I think it was because my girls hit 6 months before RSV season "started". My insurance company did cover them though. Through the end of the year, we don't have to pay for anything medical. We've already paid our out of pocket expense for the year. Sadly, come the first of January, we'll have to start over. My girls were approved for Medicaid only because I had been off work for 6 weeks before they were born. Considering they would have cost about $60,000 each after our NICU stay, I'm extremely thankful they were approved. I'm sure they won't qualify next year, but that's fine. I wish I could stay home with my kids, but I'm the only one with health insurance through my employer. My husband farms, so he relies on my insurance too. There's no way we could afford health insurance for all of us. I'm diabetic too, so that doesn't help. I still think medical costs are outrageous. I could complain more, but I don't want to bore everybody. I understand that hospitals & doctors need to make money too, but why do they have to charge as much as they do?? I just don't get it. Anyway, I everything ended up off topic. I'll just stop there...........

 

QUOTE(Pookersb @ Dec 1 2008, 11:39 AM) [snapback]1092239[/snapback]
FYI: Synagis is not a vaccine. In a vaccine, a virus/toxin/bacteria (in some form) is presented to the body which in turn makes antibodies. Synagis is antibodies to RSV. Which is why it is so expensive and why it needs to be given every month. I wish my twins qualified. They were born at 35w3d and needed to be under 35w for my insurance to cover it. Instead, I'm told by pediatrician to avoid crowds for all of RSV season (Nov through April). Lot's of fun.


That's the same thing that happened to me last year - my girls were born at 36 weeks 5 days so they didn't qualify and the pedi told me I needed to keep them inside until the end of the winter. That was a lot of fun.

 

QUOTE(clb8899 @ Dec 8 2008, 12:36 PM) [snapback]1101624[/snapback]
For some reason, Medicaid denied paying for Synagis. I think it was because my girls hit 6 months before RSV season "started". My insurance company did cover them though. Through the end of the year, we don't have to pay for anything medical. We've already paid our out of pocket expense for the year. Sadly, come the first of January, we'll have to start over. My girls were approved for Medicaid only because I had been off work for 6 weeks before they were born. Considering they would have cost about $60,000 each after our NICU stay, I'm extremely thankful they were approved. I'm sure they won't qualify next year, but that's fine. I wish I could stay home with my kids, but I'm the only one with health insurance through my employer. My husband farms, so he relies on my insurance too. There's no way we could afford health insurance for all of us. I'm diabetic too, so that doesn't help. I still think medical costs are outrageous. I could complain more, but I don't want to bore everybody. I understand that hospitals & doctors need to make money too, but why do they have to charge as much as they do?? I just don't get it. Anyway, I everything ended up off topic. I'll just stop there...........



Nope, I couldn't possibly agree with you more-this is the point I was trying to make too in the above post. I personally *don't* think doctors and hospitals should need to make a profit. Medical staff should be paid a good living wage like the rest of us should be, but IMO medical care should not be a for profit business. It's people in exactly your situation (a situation I've been in too!) that I'm more than thrilled to pay my taxes into NHS for here. Farmers (and their wives!) work their backsides off, and to me, that shouldn't mean that *just* because of health insurance prices that you shouldn't be able to stay home with your kids. It's the reason my back got up so quick when I read the post from Emily@Home. It infuriates me when someone critcizes nationalized healthcare and they don't even know how the system works. So, I agree with you.

Gah.

I'll shut up now too.

 

QUOTE(aimeethomp @ Dec 8 2008, 08:48 AM) [snapback]1101635[/snapback]
That's the same thing that happened to me last year - my girls were born at 36 weeks 5 days so they didn't qualify and the pedi told me I needed to keep them inside until the end of the winter. That was a lot of fun.


This is also what happend with my twin boys - born at 35w 1d - insurance would not cover it b/c they were not born early enough or small enough - so my ped said to keep them in the house until April. Talk about cabin fever! No fun.

 

QUOTE(clb8899 @ Dec 1 2008, 04:37 AM) [snapback]1091684[/snapback]
I'm sure somebody has posted something similar to this already, but I just can't believe it. I just got the bill for the first Synagis shots. One baby was $3400 & some change, the other was $3600 & some chage. Is it just me, or is that ridiculous?? Insurance covered the whole thing, but that's not the point. Medical costs are outrageous!! Now we get the very same thing for the next 5 months. That will be a total of $42,000 just for Synagis. It's just crazy!


It is the most ridiculous thing ever, I was SOOOOO mad when I got our bill. (I actually called the billing department and argued that there is no way one shot costs this much LOL) That price is only for one vial (50 iu) and they go by the weight of the child. By the third synagis shot my twins needed two vials (well, they acutally only needed about 60 ius, but since they had to open a second vial for the shot, they charged for two vials) so our bill was $7 THOUSAND DOLLARS for each child that day - a $14 THOUSAND DOLLAR DOCTOR VISIT!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, insurance covered it, but I still had to pay our percentage which was about $400 per shot. Luckily my twins don't need them this year. OUTRAGEOUS!!!

 

Yep--they went up on our January shot. It was about $5000 each for this one. I hope they don't need more for the next one!!