For anyone considering Evenity, I thought I'd share my experience with Amgen Safety Net Foundation. I also put this post in the "Any leads on Rx payment assistance for under 65's?" conversation.
I'd like to have Tymlos treatment, but that's not on the cards for me at the moment. I decided to try for Evenity instead. My doctor is completely on-board, so I started the process of applying to Amgen Safety Net.
To be eligible, if you're under 65 and have lived in the US for at least the last 6 months, you must either be uninsured or have commercial insurance that does not supply coverage for Evenity, and your household income must to be < 300% of the federal poverty level.
It's all surprisingly easy. I called them at 866-264-2778 and completed the application over the phone. It only took about 10 minutes, maybe less.
Now all that I need to do is get a denial of coverage on letterhead from the insurance company, and sign consent and authorization forms before faxing everything to the Foundation.
You might be interested to know how I'm getting the denial of coverage letter. My doctor is submitting a prior authorization even though we already know that Evenity is non-formulary. When they get the denial letter, I'll go and pick it up. Fingers crossed that the insurance company doesn't actually authorize the treatment. That would throw a wrench into my plan.
If you decide to apply, be aware that the consent and authorization forms give the foundation and their partners access to your health records. I'm not thrilled about that part, but it's a trade-off.
I'll post an update with what happens next.
Update: Unfortunately, my insurance company approved the prior authorization that my doctor submitted. I know it sounds strange, but now, because they approved it, even though my income is below the 300% of the federal poverty level, I'll have to pay my policy's max-out-of-pocket cost for Evenity. I need to make a quick decision on what to do within the next two weeks in order to get a full 12 months of treatment before the insurance clock resets again on Jan. 1st.
I'm waiting for a reply from my endocrinologist about my recent BTM results, because Evenity may not even be the best route for me to take. I certainly don't want to lay out all that money, which has to come from my savings, if there's a better option for me.