Hepatitis C treatment options in the USA

Hepatitis C Treatment in the USA: Insurance and Interferon

About half of the emails I get each day asking about getting generic Hepatitis C medication are from the USA, the rest are from all over the world; mostly third world countries where poverty makes access to even generics difficult.

The USA is the only First World, or developed country, where people do not have ready access to Hepatitis C treatment, which is bizarre given that Harvoni, Epclusa, Sovaldi were all developed with the use of US taxpayers’ money.

Below is a bizarre and disturbing story about a guy in the USA whose insurance company refused to pay for Harvoni but was happy to pay to have him treated with Interferon and Ribavirin.

I was totally astounded when I read this.

Hepatitis C Treatment in the USA: Obsolete treatments

I did know that Interferon is still being used in some of the poor countries of the world such as Serbia and Romania where its manufacturer Swiss Pharma giant Roche is dumping the now obsolete and highly toxic Hep C treatment at bargain prices.

I did not know that Interferon was still being used to treat Hepatitis C in the USA!

Using Interferon + Ribavirin to treat Hep C in the 21^st century is like a doctor amputating a patient’s limb because of an infection in order to save the cost of the antibiotic.

It just goes to show that around the world Big Pharma does not care about the human cost of Hepatitis C and in the USA the health insurance companies do not care about giving their customers obsolete, possibly deadly, treatments… anything to get them off their books.

So here is Steven’s story

Hi Greg

My name is Steven I have Hepatitis genotype 1 and our mutual friend David told me to contact you about getting treatment. I live in the USA and I’ve tried getting treatment approved and no luck it’s been 14 months since I was diagnosed with Hepatitis C and I have cirrhosis already and don’t want to get any sicker than I am now.

My insurance company denied me access to the new drugs but has approved me for treatment using Interferon and Ribavirin.

David has been telling me that I should avoid the Interferon treatment because it is so toxic but I want to get rid of the Hep C because I am feeling very sick and I have no other choices.

My doctor advised me to do the Interferon and Ribavirin. He has started me on the Ribavirin already and I will start the Interferon next week if you cannot help me.

I found out I had Hep c last year when I went to donate plasma.

I waited for 10 days for a confirmation that I had definitely had Hep C. I got the confirmation that I had it and 9,837 was the viral load. So, I went to the doctor and she said i had to wait six months to see if I’d clear the virus so i did.

When i went back to see her she handed me a prescription for Harvoni which i took to Walgreens to get filled.

 PRIOR AUTHORIZATION IS WHAT I WAS TOLD I NEEDED TO GET HARVONI

So, I called the doctor and she said my insurance denied my treatment. So I ask her;

 “So then why give me a prescription?”

So, then I stopped seeking treatment.

At the time I was working 40 hours a week but I could only keep that up for a few more months before I started to lose a lot of weight and started getting a burning feeling around my liver area.

So, I went to another doctor did the blood test I was at 28000 viral load and was told I needed a psych evaluation for hep c treatment. So, I called around and the soonest appointment is 6 months out… so I ended up snapping and went to another and another just to keep getting denied.

I became so sick and depressed that I could not keep up working. So when I saw my doctor again I brought up the question of the old Interferon treatment, if that would be better than nothing and my insurance approved me right away for being treated with Interferon and Ribavirin.

So, after 14 months of seeking treatment, my job was gone now and I’m on SSI and I was looking down the barrel of 12 months on Interferon and Ribavirin when David suggested that I contact Greg about generic Hep C treatment.

You know that if it wasn’t for a few people I’d have no hope but to try and clear the Hep C with Interferon and Ribavirin but thanks to these few friends I was able to not use the old treatment and I’ll be starting generic hep c treatment soon.

Having Hepatitis C is no joke.

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