A month ago, my neuro-oncology team at UCSF and I discussed a switch in chemotherapy drugs. The UCSF team has been very encouraged by clinical tests showing that Avastin has been very effective against glioma – the kind of brain tumor that I have.
Avastin is expensive (not that Temodar or other chemotherapies aren’t) – costing around $8,000 a treatment. Currently, Avastin is only FDA-approved for treating colorectal cancer. So when my neuro-oncology team first proposed the change, my insurer, Aetna refused to pay for it.
They sent me a letter saying that a board-certified anesthesiologist had made this decision. Anesthesiologist? Making life-or-death decisions about my cancer treatment? We have UCSF’s world-class neuro-oncologists saying ‘yes,’ and some anesthesiologist somewhere saying no? Yikes.
The Wall Street Journal has a story this morning about the plight of folks like me. On the one hand, I appreciate efforts to keep health costs down: on the other, this is life or death for me and many other glioma patients. I’ve paid my health care premiums all my working life against the day I’d need therapy like this, and I’m not alone, it would seem. The good news is that the UCSF team finally prevailed with the insurer: I’ve been on Avastin for 2 months and the result has been very encouraging…
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The sun peeks through our small Redwood grove as I set off with Cassie for a walk this morning. It has been months since I’ve been able to take my poor Australian Shepherd for a walk, given mobility issues.