Care team & navigation
Managing a chronic disease is expensive. For people living with Crohn's disease, the financial burden compounds year after year: medications, infusions, imaging, lab work, endoscopies, emergency visits, and for some, surgery. Direct healthcare costs for moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease average $44,934 per patient per year, and those numbers climb sharply for patients on biologics or facing surgical intervention. The good news is that financial assistance exists across multiple channels. The challenge is finding it all in one place.
What Crohn's Medications Actually Cost
The largest single expense for most Crohn's patients is medication. Aminosalicylates and immunomodulators used for mild-to-moderate disease typically cost a few hundred dollars per month. Biologics, the standard of care for moderate-to-severe Crohn's, are in a different category entirely.
A single dose of SKYRIZI (risankizumab) carries a list price of $23,838 as of January 2026. Stelara (ustekinumab) can run close to $40,000 per fill. Infliximab infusions cost $1,300 to $2,500 per dose, and patients often receive them every six to eight weeks.
The arrival of Humira biosimilars has introduced some pricing relief for adalimumab. As of 2025, there are 14 biosimilars on the U.S. market, and one transition program demonstrated a 97% reduction in average copays. However, biosimilar pricing varies widely across insurance plans, so the savings are not automatic. Ask your pharmacy and insurer which biosimilar option carries the lowest out-of-pocket cost on your specific plan.
Manufacturer Copay Programs
Nearly every biologic manufacturer offers a copay assistance program that can reduce out-of-pocket costs to $5 or less per fill for commercially insured patients. AbbVie, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Takeda all run programs for their respective Crohn's therapies. SKYRIZI's program, for example, brings patient cost to $12.65 or less per treatment for eligible patients.
The key limitation: these programs typically exclude patients on government insurance (Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare). If you have commercial insurance, enroll in the manufacturer program before filling your first prescription. If you are on government insurance, you will need to look at foundation-based grants instead.
Foundation Grants and Nonprofit Assistance
Several nonprofit foundations offer direct financial assistance to Crohn's patients, filling the gap that manufacturer programs leave for government-insured and uninsured individuals.
The PAN Foundation provides up to $4,000 per year toward copays for IBD medications.
The Patient Advocate Foundation's Co-Pay Relief Program offers financial assistance for copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles.
The HealthWell Foundation specifically targets IBD patients on Medicare.
These grants are funded by donations and open in cycles. They can close temporarily when funding runs out and reopen when new money comes in. Check back regularly if a fund is closed when you first apply.
Fighting Insurance Denials and Step Therapy
Insurance companies regularly deny biologic prescriptions for Crohn's disease, often requiring step therapy (trying cheaper medications first) or demanding prior authorization documentation. A Crohn's & Colitis Foundation survey found that 35% of people under 26 reported insurer-imposed barriers. The most common were prior authorizations (51%), outright medication denials (15%), and step therapy requirements (11%).
These denials carry real clinical consequences. Research published in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases found that medication denial was associated with a ninefold increased likelihood of IBD-related surgery. Forced medication switches were associated with more than double the likelihood of needing corticosteroid rescue.
The appeal process works more often than patients expect. Data shows that 82% of appealed denials were at least partially overturned. Your gastroenterologist's office will typically handle the clinical portion of the appeal, but patients can submit their own supporting letter as well. The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation's guide on fighting denied claims walks through the process step by step.
When filing an appeal, document everything: your diagnosis history, medications you have already tried and failed, symptom severity over time, and any objective data from your medical records. The stronger your documentation, the harder it is for an insurer to justify continued denial.
The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation as a Starting Point
The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation maintains the most comprehensive directory of financial assistance programs for IBD patients. Their patient financial assistance page links to manufacturer programs, nonprofit grants, and government resources in one place. The Foundation's IBD Help Center (the Irwin M. and Suzanne R. Rosenthal IBD Resource Center) also provides one-on-one support for patients navigating insurance and cost questions.
Beyond the Foundation, NeedyMeds (1-800-503-6897) maintains a database of assistance programs and offers individualized help through their toll-free helpline.
Building Your Financial Case
The common thread across insurance appeals, prior authorizations, and assistance program applications is documentation. Programs want to see your diagnosis, treatment history, symptom burden, and financial need laid out clearly.
Tracking your symptoms consistently creates a record that supports every financial interaction you will have, from proving medical necessity during an insurance appeal to demonstrating disease severity on a grant application. Aidy's medical report exports give you a structured way to document your symptom history and share it with providers, insurers, and assistance programs. Objective data is harder to dismiss than a verbal summary, and it strengthens every request you make.