Coard Simpler: Between my Cancer and Remission, a Costly Drug

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My name is Coard, I'm from Baltimore and I've spent
the last 18 years dealing with prescription drugs
and high costs.
I was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous
leukemia known more commonly as CML.
It's a disease that effects 5,000 people in the U.S.
a year, I mean a very small number.
And the standard of care at the time it was a
self-injected chemotherapy and after 6 months I had
lost 35 pounds on this.
I lost all my hair and it didn't work.
I had to go through 6 months of the injectable
chemotherapy which made me eligible for a new drug
which saved my life.
My progression and improvement was dramatic.
I mean, I was in remission probably in just over a
year from the time I started taking the drug.
The drug would be so expensive that I would get
tied up in either pre-approvals or the
prescription had expired.
So there would be times when they wouldn't
approve my refill and I would have to pay
for it out of pocket.
So I just ended up charging a lot
of it on a credit card.
I was fortunate enough to have resources to be able
to cover it but it took money out of savings.
That adds a layer of stress to anybody's recovery
whether it's leukemia or whatever it is
that I don't think most people should have to deal with.
I'm grateful that the President and Secretary
Azar are putting America's patients first.
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Coard Simpler: Between my Cancer and Remission, a Costly Drug

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