N.Y. grapples with cost of life-saving Hepatitis C drug
Laura Nahmias
ALBANYA new drug with a greater than 90-percent success rate for curing Hepatitis C is on the market, but the state may not be able to cover its cost for tens of thousands of people who don't have private insurance.
Sovaldi, manufactured by Gilead Sciences, was approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration in December 2013. It costs $1,000 per pill, and a 12-week standard course of treatmentone pill a daycosts $84,000.
Many of those who would be treated with the drug wont be covered by private insurance. More than half the estimated 3.2 million people infected with Hepatitis C nationwideincluding prisoners, veterans, the uninsured or Medicaid recipientshave their health coverage at least partially subsidized by taxpayers.
The potential expense is threatening to blow a hole in states' Medicaid budgets.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/06/8547135/ny-grapples-cost-life-saving-hepatitis-c-drug