Urea Cycle Disorders

Status

Closed
Closed Funds

This fund is temporarily closed to new patients due to lack of sufficient funding. Please continue to visit our Disease Funds page often, as replenished funds reopen as quickly as possible. If you currently have a grant with HealthWell, your grant will remain active for the entire 12 month grant cycle or until you have exhausted your allocated grant amount, whichever comes first. You can continue to use your pharmacy card or submit requests for reimbursements during your designated grant cycle.

Fund Type

Copay
Premium (Medicare Part B only)

Maximum Award Level

$4,500

Pharmacy Card Fund

Yes

Minimum Copay
Reimbursement Amount

Minimum Copay Reimbursement Amount

We encourage you to please use your HealthWell pharmacy card for any applicable charges as possible.

None

Minimum Premium
Reimbursement Amount

Minimum Premium Reimbursement Amount

We encourage you to please submit monthly reimbursement claims (even if your premium is paid on a bi-weekly basis).

None

Household Income Limit

400% of the Federal Poverty Level
(adjusted for household size and high
cost of living areas)

Fund Alerts

Sign up for email or text/call alerts to receive instant notifications.

Treatments Covered

  • Ammonul
  • Arginine Hcl Injection
  • Buphenyl
  • Carbaglu
  • Citrulline Easy Tablets
  • Dextrose Injection
  • Glucose
  • L-arginine
  • L-citrulline
  • L-lysine-hcl
  • Olpruva
  • Phenylbutyrate
  • Ravicti
  • Sodium Benzoate
  • Sodium Phenylacetate

Fund Definition

Assistance with any medically appropriate therapy used in the treatment of the various urea cycle disorders.

Grant Utilization

HealthWell estimates that patients use an average of $4,130 during their 12-month grant period for this disease area.

Do I Qualify?

HealthWell bases eligibility on an individual’s medical, financial and insurance situation. To qualify for HealthWell’s assistance, applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:

  • Please make sure that HealthWell currently has a fund for your diagnosis/indication and that your medication is covered under that fund by visiting our Disease Funds listing. If we do not have a fund that currently covers your diagnosis, please check back as we frequently open and reopen programs as funding becomes available. The Foundation is able to help patients receiving treatment for indications for which we currently have an open fund. We can only assist with medications that have been prescribed to treat the disease/covered diagnosis. You will be asked to provide the Foundation with the patient’s diagnosis, which must be verified by a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant’s signature. The patient must receive treatment in the United States.

  • To qualify for copayment assistance from HealthWell, you must have some form of health insurance (private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, TriCare, etc.) that covers part of the cost of your treatment. Please note that in order to qualify for premium assistance through this fund, you must have Medicare Part B. The Foundation will refer patients without prescription insurance to other programs, such as manufacturer patient assistance programs.

  • HealthWell assists individuals with incomes up to 300-500% of the Federal Poverty Level. The Foundation also considers the number in a household and cost of living in a particular city or state. If you believe you qualify for assistance, you may begin the application process here.
  • If you are receiving treatment in the U.S. and have met the eligibility criteria as listed, you are ready to apply! Please note that you will be asked to provide a Social Security Number in order to create a grant. This information is gathered to eliminate duplicate applications and is kept secure and confidential.

About Urea Cycle Disorders

A urea cycle disorder is a genetic disorder that results in a deficiency of one of the six enzymes in the urea cycle. These enzymes are responsible for removing ammonia from the blood stream. The urea cycle involves a series of biochemical steps in which nitrogen, a waste product of protein metabolism, is changed to a compound called urea and removed from the blood. Normally, the urea is removed from the body through the urine. In urea cycle disorders, nitrogen builds up in the blood in the form of ammonia, a highly toxic substance, resulting in hyperammonemia (elevated blood ammonia). Ammonia then reaches the brain through the blood, where it can cause irreversible brain damage, coma and/or death. The onset and severity of urea cycle disorders is highly variable and severity correlates with the amount of urea cycle enzyme function. Source: Office of Rare Diseases Research (ORDR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)