Sickle Cell, was: Watson "The Man With the Glowing Chest" 3/9/2025 (spoilers)

[sull fnip]

The very real treatment, which Sixty Minutes puff pieced
on five years ago, just had another Big Success:

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/sickle-cell-anemia-cure-new-york/

Note it's still _extrememly expensive_ (although the only people,
at least publicly, who've gotten it haven't paid directly [a])
and the numbers who've been treated (again, at least publicly)
barely crack the double digits.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, there was a strong movement
to get this the same Medicare "Special Casing" that End Stage
Renal Disease ("ESRD", kidney dialysis/transplant) gets (that
is, full coverage [b]) prior to last year's election, but then,
well, the election.

[a] I've seen rumoured reporting of people who have, indeed,
paid out the millions of dollars, but no details.  I wouldn't
be surprised if this is happening.

[b] to be clear, this still leaves lots of expenses and
a miserable life, but it's a Big Step for these folk.




--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
     dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]