Insurance coverage for remicade

[spleanyyyy]

Hey everyone! I am a 20 year old girl from Canada and I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease when I was 17. I have been on remicade since my diagnoses and it has been working well. It is a very expensive drug as you may know and until now I have been covered by my parents insurance as I am a full time student. I am about to graduate and I am no longer going to be covered by my parents insurance. I feel like I need to immediately get a good job with good insurance because I cannot afford the drug without insurance. The problem is that I dont necessarily want a good job right away, I dont really know what I want to do yet! I want to be able to travel and take my time figuring things out but I feel trapped by the cost of this medication. My dream would be to volunteer in other countries, or teach english somewhere in asia. I basically just want to be able to be a normal 20-something year old who is still trying to figure out their path in life... but this disease has me trapped. Ive started to look into the healthcare systems of other countries; researching if other countries have universal healthcare systems that cover prescription medications like remicade. I am of italian decent and qualify for italian citizenship, so I was thinking if I got italian citizenship (long process i know), I would be able to receive medical care in europe and I've heard that prescription meds are covered in europe. I also heard that New Zealand has really good healthcare coverage even for tourists. I would literally move anywhere in the world to have the freedom to live the life I want to live and to have a job that I want not that I need!!

All of this is just the info I have gotten from talking to people though and I really dont know how I can get accurate reliable information about this. I was wondering if any of you guys knew a good website or any resource I could use to learn more about this sort of thing?

Thank you so much I really appreciate it!!

 

[SupportiveMom]

Have you spoken to a BioAdvance Coordinator? They know about Trillium, a grant for people with this issue. Check out http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/publi..._trillium.aspx BioAdvance was able to get approved a large savings when my kid was on Remicade.

Paging Dave DJW who I know has a lot of info on this!

You should come to the Crohn's & Colitis Canada Toronto Chapter meeting May 20th at the Rose & Crown on Yonge & Eglington (look at Ontario Support group or search Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CrohnsandColitisToronto?fref=ts ). There are a few who navigate the system with this issue. I will see what else I can dig up if others don't start replying soon.

 

[DJW]

Sorry, just saw this. I've been busy and not able to log on very much.

I agree with SupportiveMom.

Talk to the coordinator and look into trillium. You can get the paperwork from Shoppers Drugmart.

 

[Justanothercp]

I feel for you. I was preparing to start my own small business, but had to abandon that dream because I couldn't get insurance. I had to go to work for a big company to get good insurance. I guess for me the peace of mind of having the insurance was worth it, I really didn't have much choice...