HEALTH
Do the insurance companies cover the cost ?
No , unfortunately they don ’ t . The cost on average for cancer medication can range from $ 5,000 to $ 6,000 , because of the concentrated oil that these people will have to purchase .
You mean , over the course of the whole treatment ?
Correct .
That compares to a medication cost of what , for conventional cancer treatment ?
You ’ re comparing apples and oranges , because usually for cancer treatments , most people aren ’ t paying out of pocket ; they ’ re usually relying on their health insurance , but if you don ’ t have health insurance , retail costs can run into $ 10- 12,000 range for anti-cancer medications . A good example I can give you is Harvoni for Hep C , which has an incredible benefit for patients . It ’ s unconscionable to me that companies will do this , but Harvoni , if you follow their protocol and use Harvoni for three months , has 99 % success rate in curing people of hepatitis C , but the average cost in the US is $ 8,000 .
For the entire treatment ?
For the entire treatment , and most insurance companies don ’ t offer that , unless you ’ re in a protocol ; and God forbid if you don ’ t have insurance and have Hep C - you ’ re paying astronomical outof-pocket costs .
Yes , well the greed of the pharmaceutical companies is a subject for another day .
Yeah , you know I think one thing that I would say is that as an industry , the cannabis industry , the hemp industry , retailers need to do a much better job of educating consumers on what they ’ re actually using . The thing that I ’ m most passionate about is really educating consumers on proper use of cannabis or hemp products , and also how to be more astute at reading labels and finding out what actually they ’ re getting . Very few dispensaries actually take the time to educate their employees so that they can pass on that education to customers . Sadly , like big Pharma , once a state has medical cannabis regulation and taxation , everyone is vested in selling as much , taxing as much , getting as much money as possible , and you may not be getting the best products .
Is there somewhere where patients can educate themselves , aside from just spending hours and hours on the web , and getting confused ?
I ’ m happy to provide advice . People can reach out to me via email , and they can check out our website , seyvah . com . If they have questions , they should feel free to email me at drsharma @ seyvah . com .
How optimistic are you that cannabis and cannabinoids are going to make a real impact in the market ?
That ’ s a multi-tiered question . I ’ ll tell you , my thoughts are that medical cannabis will be accepted in all 50 states eventually , and I think that the federal government will also allow medical cannabis use . Since it ’ s classified as a schedule one drug , a substance labeled by the government as having no known medical benefit and tagged as “ harmful ” or “ addictive ”, it ’ s illegal to do banking and business federally with cannabis [ including prescribing it in federally funded hospitals ]. The biggest time for concern for consumers will be when the federal government reschedules cannabis , which they will do , because Big Pharma is just waiting for them to reschedule the medication , because that will bring it completely under their purview . Gone will be the small time cultivator , gone will be the small businesses , because Big Pharma will be allowed to come in and completely take over the marketplace .
You ’ ll see , like in Oregon , which has already changed so much in terms of its marketplace .
11 | HAPI Guide