60 Minutes 12/14/2025: Germany Rearms, The Price of Life, Hoosier Hysteria
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Dec 15, 2025 C.G. Green, a passionate parent and advocate, shares her heart-wrenching journey navigating the high costs of gene therapy for her daughter, Maisie, who has spinal muscular atrophy. Together with correspondent Scott Pelley, they discuss the systemic challenges of affording these life-saving treatments in the U.S. healthcare system. The conversation explores the dire implications of expensive therapies on insurance and the ethical dilemmas facing families, highlighting the urgent need for policy changes and price negotiations in the healthcare landscape.
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Gene Therapy's Cost Crisis
- Gene therapies can cure previously fatal childhood diseases but cost millions per one-time dose.
- The U.S. health system lacks a sustainable payment model for the growing pipeline of high-cost genetic medicines.
Mother's Fight For Her Daughter's Cure
- C.G. Green described Maisie's decline from floppy neck to an SMA diagnosis and the hope Zolgensma offered.
- Medicaid initially refused to pay the $2 million dose, and C.G. felt insurers were effectively betting on her daughter's death.
A 'Tsunami' Of Expensive Treatments
- Economists warn hundreds of gene therapies in trials could overwhelm employer-sponsored and self-insured plans.
- The system faces a ‘tsunami’ of one-time ultra-expensive treatments that current financing models can't absorb.