Colon Cancer, how much does it cost in America?

**Terry** · 10-19-2009, 10:42 AM

Cancer, and how much does it cost in American?
I've heard of cases where young children get cancer, and young people in their 20's, 30's, 40's and up.
It can surprise otherwise healthy and active people with no rhyme or reason as to who gets hit.
You may be hiking in the mountains, playing softball and active as all getout. But you can't plan for it.
You get your health coverage and hope for the best.
So.........Will I be able to ski this year?

Some forms of treatment call for a bug zapper.
This machine is for zapping cancer cells.

The top part rotates in a circle, Left, Top and Right.
Radiation destroys cells, and the new cells grow back cancer free.

Before they put you in the bug zapper, they take pictures of the inside of your body.
My pictures showed the happy images of a tumor that had not spread.
If it had spread, I wouldn't be smiling.
Okay, maybe I would have smile for the camera anyway.
In this picture I'm happy because I have been told, that they see the enemy and the enemy will be "taken out!"

Now I'm finding out about costs.
Roche XELODA (capecitabine)
Chemo is six pills a day at a cost out of pocket of $144.00 per day.
6 x 500mg tablets a day.
If I pick up the same pills in the same package in Canada, it's $35.00 a day.
Same company, but charging differently depending on the country they are selling to.
The Generic can go for as little as $10.18 a day.

x120 x1 x6
Mauritious
(generic.CIPLA) $204 $1.70 $10.18
Costa Rica $488 $4.06 $24.38
Sweden $516 $4.30 $25.80
Norway $608 $5.07 $30.42

Mauritious (Brand) $638 $5.32 $31.89
South Africa $656 $5.47 $32.80
Ontario $720 $6.00 $36.00
Australia $743 $6.19 $37.15
Barbados $765 $6.37 $38.25
Denmark $837 $6.98 $41.85
Ontario $840 $7.00 $42.00
Guatemala $856 $7.13 $42.78
Argentina $924 $7.70 $46.20
USA $2,880 $24.00 $144.00

**FloridaOrange** · 10-19-2009, 11:06 AM

Again, glad your doctors seem to have this under control.
The cost of prescriptions is rediculous. The pill cost to insurance is likely a great deal more than the out of the pocket expense.

**Cookie** · 10-19-2009, 11:13 AM

Those gowns are damn sexy.

You look great Terry.

**Ian Gills** · 10-19-2009, 11:24 AM

If you can afford healthcare in the US Terry, which judging by the pics you can, then you have access to the best healthcare on the planet. Period. So rest well (and get better) with that in mind. The issue is whether it is worth what we pay for it. It is the best, but God it costs a lot.

For the less fortunate uninsured in America, I worry. And I am concerned about their drug costs too, although the question is always asked whether drugs will get developed at all if the cost is too low? Part of me thinks America is footing the development costs for the rest of the world. So, it's a bit of a chicken and an egg. But all Americans should have access to affordable healthcare and if that means me paying more taxes, and a few more of my Washingtonian friends being employed by the Federal Government, then so be it.

I cannot stand all this ridiculous talk in the media of if you have a risky lifestyle then you should pay more in premiums.

As someone who is overweight, why should I pay more than a skydiver or even a skier? Why should a smoker pay more than a bungee jumper? Or an electrician more than a plumber? We all take risks and insurance is supposed to spread these: something that has fundamentally been forgotten in America's insurance industry today.

But I would ask you to check whether the bug zapper has been correctly plumbed? I cannot see a vent, but perhaps it is on a septic tank.

And the sharpies have been installed upside down which is against code: Article 210 of the NEC addresses "pens with permanent ink" (as opposed to pencils or dryboard markers) and states that these must be placed "lid up" on "any grounded appliance". An exception permits sharpies to be installed without lids as long as the disconnecting means for the appliance is lockable in the "open" position.

**Cookie** · 10-19-2009, 11:35 AM

Terry, I love the choice of magazines you got there, lol.

**Peter Griffin** · 10-19-2009, 12:46 PM

Dunno about the cost of cancer but 7 bypasses will cost you close to a million.

Thank god for good health insurance.

**FloridaOrange** · 10-19-2009, 01:01 PM

7??? Wow. And you look pretty fit here:

**Peter Griffin** · 10-19-2009, 02:35 PM

You should a seen me two years ago

**Peter Griffin** · 10-19-2009, 02:37 PM

Yo Terry, even in the hospital gown your hair is .. perrrrrrrfect.

Wish I still had some

hj · 10-23-2009, 11:42 AM

Cookie. Those are the doctor's magazines, not the patients. The patients have to read articles such as, "How to survive on $70.00 a week", or "Hemlock. Is it for you?" Or as Ceasar said when asked if he had eaten any of the hemlock leaves, "Ate two, bruté."

**Terry** · 10-24-2009, 10:13 AM

The control Center for the Bug Zapper.

Cookie, thought you would like this,
A picture outside the bug zapper room.

This stuff does slow you down a bit.

**master plumber mark** · 10-24-2009, 12:49 PM

so from what I gather,
I guess it could have been a way whole lot worse..

are they still doing the "full round" of chemo on you
or something much mildler,???

,

**Terry** · 10-24-2009, 12:59 PM

are they still doing the "full round" of chemo on you
or something much mildler,???

I think it's going to be a bunch.

**Ian Gills** · 10-24-2009, 02:10 PM

I will post a ten dollar check to you Terry if, without asking, you go into that control room and start pushing the colored buttons visible on the left of the picture.

Just start punching them, in any order.

**Terry** · 10-24-2009, 02:24 PM

Just start punching them, in any order.

They do that already.
Sometimes you get a long buzzzzz, then a couple short ones.
Makes you wonder if they are just holding them down by hand.
Wait, that one was a little longer.
Yeow!

I like to think there is a method there with the big zapper hovering over me.