Opinion: $2 million gene therapy cures require a financing model

Article excerpt

Gene therapies that cure sickle cell disease and other genetic conditions in a single treatment now cost $2 million or more per patient, a price tag that forces a reckoning with how medicine gets paid for. The expense reflects genuine value: these one-time interventions can eliminate years of hospitalizations, complications, and lost earnings. But the economics remain unsolved. The piece argues that traditional insurance and healthcare payment models weren't built for cures that upend a patient's lifetime trajectory in one shot, requiring new financing approaches to make these transformative treatments accessible.