MIAMI – A pill can cure those diagnosed with hepatitis C, a condition that can lead to liver failure and liver cancer.
"(It's a) very simple treatment," Claudio Tuda, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai Medical Center said. "One pill a day for 12 weeks, with (an) almost 100 percent cure rate."
But getting access to those pills isn't so simple.
"It's like, oh there's hope, but not hope for me," Dirk Stokes, who has hepatitis C, said. "Who's this for?"
Stokes was diagnosed with hepatitis C about eight years ago during a routine physical for an insurance policy. Back then, his treatment option was a year-long treatment that had a low success rate.
He was thrilled when Tuda told him his condition had cure, but then his insurance company turned his request for treatment down.
"They told me I wasn't sick enough," Stokes said.
The pill is sold under the brand name Sovaldi, and costs about $1,000 a day for a standard 90 day course of treatment. That makes the total average cost $90,000
"I have some patients that were fortunate enough that insurance pay for it and they're cured," Tuda said.
Jeff Acocella was one of the lucky ones, but it was a battle to get approval.
"Every single month I had to go through a blood test to make sure it was undetectable, or else they would not pay for it," Acocella said. "I was so freaked out I would miss a dose and lose my chance of being cured."
Infectious disease specialists and activists are fighting to get Sovaldi into the hands of those who need it.
An estimated 3.2 million Americans are living with hepatitis C and don’t even know they are infected. Worldwide, about 170 million people are afflicted with the virus.
The World Health Organization is leading the charge to make the drug affordable, and available to those in need, but those efforts may not be soon enough for money who are living with the hepatitis C.