ibrance cost on medicare

ts542001

my health insurance will soon be changing to medicare.

how much is the cost of ibrance on medicare? i am currently on commercial insurance that when i purchase ibrance i have no copay for. that's likedly because of the copay card that pfizer supplies that pays $2000 per month for the ibrance.

is there a specific medicare part D that i need to get to have ibrance covered, or is it covered on all medicare part D programs?

any help/advice you can offer is much appreciated. i need to make a decision re which medicare program i join in the next couple of weeks. if someone has already answered this questions can you send me a link to the right discussion.

thanks.

BevJen

This was heavily discussed a month or two ago on the Ibrance thread. You should read through that. People discussed the cost of the drug and also how you can get some help through various foundations. Jaycee has posted a lot on this in that thread. Additionally, your oncologist's office should be able to help you with this. I would start there first.

The copay cards are not valid with any government insurance (Medicare or Medicaid).

I am on Medicare Part D, and on Ibrance. I believe that all Medicare Part D plans are required to cover Ibrance. "Cover" is a loose word, however. Technically, as I read the regulations, Medicare patients are required to pay up to $5150 during 2019 before they get to the catastrophic stage, where you have a much smaller copay. It will probably go up slightly in 2020. My copay in the catastrophic stage is $580 per cycle for the rest of 2019. Then, it starts all over again with the higher amount due and then the lower copays in the catastrophic stage.

I have checked this out several times for myself. I am on Express Scripts Medicare Part D. I pay very little. Someone posted that they are switching their Part D program so that they will get free coverage for a year from CVS for Ibrance. I have not been able to track that down at all. When I use the Part D calculator on Medicare.gov for my state, I don't see a difference in what I will pay for Medicare.

Again, this is quite complicated, and I'd urge you to go first to your oncologist's office. They will know all about the foundations that can provide co-pay help (for the most part, it's income limited) and they can also tell you more about your upcoming copays. After I sucked it in a bit, I am doing it, but it's not pretty.