Hi Everybody,
I am from the UK and I am posting on behalf of my wife, Jenny, she was diagnosed with CML 2 years ago and has been pretty textbook case in terms of response to therapy. A few months ago her levels started to rise so she was switched to Tasigna and initial signs are good.
2 years ago when diagnosed we were just about to move from London to North Carolina, we put things on hold so Jenny could get treatment and avail of the free healthcare on the NHS in the UK. We have a great oncologist and labwork has always been easy and reliable with regular PCR tests. We are now going to hit the play button on our lives again and make the move to the US. I am hoping the collective knowledge of this forum can help my wife and I get up to speed with the US healthcare market. I have literally spent the last week researching insurance health plans - whoa what a minefield! I think though I have something organised and our plans are full steam ahead.
Financially its going to be very different from the UK and we have made provisions for the cost of Jennys care but I dont want to over burden us with the cost, one area I would like to understand more is how to pay for getting lab tests done. I apologize that my first post on this great forum is a series of questions but I have read through lots of past posts and I dont see these answered.
1/ The whole world of "copays" is new to us and I am wondering what the average copay is for you guys when you get your 3 month PCR test done at the lab?
2/ We may have to pay for some tests ourselves before the insurance is setup, does anyone do this? How much does a PCR test cost if you have no insurance?
3/ I see there are some free PCR testing schemes, I think we would qualify for one of them run by Novartis/Genoptix. It gives free tests every month. Do any of you guys avail of this? Is it good way to go?
4/ Do you think we are mad leaving a good setup in the UK to start all over again gettting things setup in the US? (There is a good reason for going, but I dont want to put Jenny's health at risk)
Thanks ever so much,
Paul