Help with Herceptin co-pays from Genentech

CoastalXPat

Hi All, I don't know if you've seen this offer from Genentech:

http://www.genentech-access.com/herceptin/patients/find-patient-assistance/co-pay-cards

Some caveats, you need to have private insurance, so this won't work for Medicare/Medicaid patients. There are other details on their website. I called them up and the agent was pretty helpful with very little wait.

Last year I hit my out-of-pocket max quickly between surgery, chemo and rads, but this year it's mostly Herceptin so I'm hoping it'll help. It might also help for Perjeta. I just signed up so I'll post again once I see it in action. Has anyone else used this offer?

Mommato3

The hospital where I receive my infusion called me the beginning of January to sign me up for this card. I'm pretty excited about it! I've only had one infusion (hospital bills monthly) so I haven't seen it in action yet either.

Moderators

Thanks so much for sharing this information with the community!

Lauriesh

I have used it for the last couple of years it saved me about 400-500 last year.

Laurie

annika12

I did this last year. My copay was $950 every 3 weeks until I met my 10000 out of pocket so it was a great help

CoastalXPat

Figured I'd bump up this topic.

So I sent the co-pay card to the hospital, but they seem to be slow to work with it. I keep sending copies of the card to various different departments. If it works, it should save thousands though...

I'm curious to hear about other success (or non-success) stories.

Mommato3

My hospital deals with Genentech directly so I don't need to do anything. I've only had to pay $100 for each of my treatments so far this year. They have covered the rest. It has saved me about $2500 (max out of pocket is $3600). That is a huge help

Mommato3

Bump...We're coming up on a new year to apply for help from Genentech.

CoastalXPat

Mommato, Thanks for bumping this - and here's another.

My conclusion: this co-pay card is great!

It took a really, really long time for my hospital to figure out how to do the paperwork for this, but they eventually got it, and the co-pay card pitched in for my 2015 Herceptin. I ended up paying about $25/infusion for the 6 infusions I had that year (finishing a year-long course from April to April). This is huge, because with my co-insurance, I would have owed thousands of dollars.

Genentech sent me a note because they're continuing the program in 2016. I'm grateful for this, but honestly I'm hoping I never need Herceptin again.

JeninMichigan

I have been getting help from Genentech for 4 years now. My cancer completes the paperwork for me and submits the claims for payment. I think this year they are implementing a $25 co pay for the drug portion only of your treatment. So the saline and other ancillary infusion charges are not picked up but this is still a big chunk of changes. It would be great if the insurance company though would apply the drug first to the deductible but in my case they apply the other charges towards the deductible and then the drug so I don't get as much benefit as I could. Also, this year they removed the $100,000 annual salary cap to qualify. It is a GREAT program. I have been on Herceptin now for 7 1/2 years so the out of pocket expenses get maxed by March and this has been an absolute blessing.

Jennifer