Tips for driving down medical bills
In our collaboration with Kaiser Health News and NPR, we're taking a look at surprise medical bills that catch many Americans off guard. The latest "Bill of the Month" reveals how costly life-saving drugs can be. Shereese Hickson was bedridden with MS symptoms at one point and was prescribed an infusion called Ocrevus. It costs $65,000 a year. Medicare and Medicaid paid for nearly all of her previous treatments, so Hickson was surprised when she was billed more than $3,600 for the first two doses of this new medicine. Kaiser Health News editor-in-chief Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal joins “CBS This Morning” to discuss the bill. In a statement to CBS News, Genentech said: "As demonstrated in our clinical trials with Ocrevus, MS medicines are not the same — especially when it comes to their ability to slow disability progression... Treatment decisions in MS are highly individualized and should be made between patients, their doctors and MS care team. "