Pricey sickle cell treatments raise daunting new challenges for Medicaid programs

Living with sickle cell disease has not been easy on Kourtney Cunningham.

The genetic blood disorder typically causes her to experience three episodes of extreme pain each month and she can end up in the hospital at least twice a year due to these crises. Then there are blood transfusions every four weeks.

So when the Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first two curative gene therapies for sickle cell, she allowed herself to become hopeful, even though treatment requires chemotherapy that might cause various side effects. These include lowered immunity, hair loss, and infertility.

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Individual plans

Group plans

Monthly

$39

Totals $468 per year

$39/month Get Started

Totals $468 per year

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$30

for 3 months, then $39/month

$30 for 3 months Get Started

Then $39/month

Annual

$399

Save 15%

$399/year Get Started

Save 15%

11+ Users

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Savings start at 25%!

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2-10 Users

$300

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