Apr 22 2014
Forbes: Insurers Fret Hepatitis C Pill Costs More Than Obamacare
As health insurance companies reveal much anticipated first-quarter earnings, it's the unpredictable impact from the five-figure cost of new Hepatitis C treatments that are the subject of as much Wall Street worry as the Affordable Care Act. The cost of a course of treatment has been pegged at more than $80,000. The market is large with the liver disease afflicting more than three million Americans. And there are more Hepatitis C drugs to come. ... Across the industry, the cost of Hepatitis C medications could run more than $1 billion in the first quarter alone (Japsen, 4/17).
Related, earlier KHN story: Biggest Insurer Shocked With Hepatitis C Costs (Hancock, 4/17).
This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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