A Plan to Access Cheap Drugs Backfires, Leaving Patient With $250,000 Bill
So-called alternative funders work with employer benefit plans to access low-cost treatments designated for people who can’t pay. Pharma companies are catching on.
Janelle Zeihen worried she’d have to file for bankruptcy after learning she owed $250,000 for her Crohn’s disease treatment.
The Milwaukee nursing home worker thought her insurance was covering the infusions as part of a complex arrangement. Through a middleman, her benefit plan was trying to use a charity program to get her the medication for free. But only after months of treatment did Zeihen learn the maneuver backfired, leaving her on the hook for payments.