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Long time no post
One of the reasons I have not posted in such a long time is that I have gotten a first shift job and also within my profession of Social Work. I took a job in February of this year with a Hospice in a nearby town. It consumes a lot of my time. I Occasionally run into cancer patients of course and having heard the scary news of course is something I can help them cope with. Notice how I write occasionally in bold. Cancer treatment has come a long way.
I am doing well and have gotten into eating and exercise. I mangage this by forraging for food on unused commercial sites. Often the sites were former homesteads with fruit trees and berry bushes that have abandoned but still producing. I freeze or can the food. Right now just harvesting the food tends to get me enough exercise for weight control.
I also am looking for ways to pay for cancer bills. Not for me as I have medical bills post cancer. I have a client who needs assistance. If you have any information on this please let me know.
Hey don't forget to Laugh a Lot.
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Hospital BillsJean 0609 said:Good to hear from you!
Thanks for checking in.
I am glad that your clients are having help from you for hospital bills. During my 5&1/2 through this journey I have been done my own negotiation multiple times. It has been very stressful and often agly process for me, while I was able to save about 100K and protect my family from bankruptcy. Eventually I got a lot of experience, here my tips:
- Request an Itemized statement from the hospital. - look for errors, including double billing, date of service, patient name
- If person has insurance, ask for Explanation of benefits (EOB), compare with itemized statement , check if the hospital in-network or out of network provider (reimbursement for services could be different).
- Contact insurance to discuss. Co-payments and co-insurance amount are suppose to be paid patient. Often providers bill patients for difference between allowed by insurance and charged by the hospital even they should Not. In-network provider should accept negotiated price and never bill patients. If insurance made a mistake or denied benefits, there is an appeal process, which has time limit and require written request and usually a form to fill out. Please use this option as well
- If person does not have insurance, most hospitals have financial plans, and allow patient pay monthly over 12 months period.
Keep us posted, if you have a specific question you can always PM to me.
Hugs
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Thanks so much
So glad to know I was missed. Thanks for the reply on negotiation. I will let you all know if there are any national resouces I find out about. We are Michiganders here and so I suspect each state has a few unique programs. I also will get in touch with our local ACS and see if there are any grants available.
When I get into social work I really go whole hog. My greatest struggle tends to be to "take care of yourself" which is often the advice I give to the caregivers of my hospice clients. I continue to try and be involved in my grandchildrens' lives as I have a legacy of stick-to-a-tiveness in the face of great obstacles. This is something our younger generation needs. They have also seen me exercise and this is another example as we have become a round and rotund nation. Including me folks. Gotta go. Will check in more often.
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