"I've seen people's testimonies about how great it is" on YouTube, she said. What gives: Hickson researched Ocrevus online after her doctor prescribed the new medicine. (Cleveland Clinic has provided financial support for NPR.) Service provider: Cleveland Clinic, a nonprofit, academic medical center based in Ohio. Medical service: Two Ocrevus infusions, each requiring several hours at the hospital. Hickson got a bill for about $3,620, the balance calculated as her share by the hospital after the insurance reimbursement. CareSource, Hickson's Medicare managed care plan, paid a discounted $28,960. Total bill: $123,019 for two Ocrevus infusions taken as an outpatient. Because her MS has left her too disabled to work, she is now on Medicare she also has Medicaid for backup. Patient: Shereese Hickson, 39, single mother who worked as a health aide and trained as a medical coder, living in Girard, Ohio. Hickson received her first two Ocrevus infusions as an outpatient two weeks apart in July and August. Hospitals delivering the drugs often make money by charging a premium on top of their cost or adding hefty fees for the infusion clinic. Such medicines have become increasingly expensive, priced in many cases at well over $80,000 a year. The drug is one of several for multiple sclerosis that are delivered intravenously in a hospital or clinic. Genentech, a South San Francisco, Calif.-based subsidiary of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, makes Ocrevus. This summer, a doctor switched her to Ocrevus, a drug approved in 2017 that delayed progression of the disease in clinical trials better than an older medicine did. Earlier symptoms such as slurred speech and vision problems had resolved with treatment, but others lingered: She was tired and sometimes fell. She could still walk and take care of her son six years after doctors diagnosed the disease, which attacks the central nervous system. Spasms in her legs and other symptoms were getting worse. Shereese Hickson's multiple sclerosis was flaring again. She supports herself and her son, Isaiah, on $770 a month. Listen Shereese Hickson was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2012 and is unable to work.
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