Finance help?

I can't help much but I will
I can't help much but I will pray that you find all the help you need. Jim is retired and we lived on his Social Security $1200 for 8 months because I had to leave my job so we could move close to the cancer center. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of help out there but you can get a little from Social Security. We are blessed to have a very low mortgage and live in Florida where the weather has been such that we haven't used much heat and air. I know others have filled for Social Security Disability but it takes time. I am sure someone will post on how to go about it.

Praying for you.
Debbie

Hello Stayingpositive
Sorry to hear about the job situation; while I was able to work during all treatments , I did do some homework and looked for sites in the event that I wasn't able to work...hope these can be of some help to you;

cancerandcareers.org

pcip.gov/state plan this site is for the under insured or folks without insurance

healthwellfoundation.org my chemo docs office provided this web site

Here is a link to SS
Staying positive,

Here is the link for Social Security's page for the Compassionate Allowance. If you have a Social Security Office near you, try and make an appointment to see them. The link has all the cancers they will pay ahead of the normal schedule. Social Security started this in 2008. My cancer was in 2004, and when I approached them about some help, they told me that I had to be out of work for one year. Things have changed since that time.

http://www.ssa.gov/compassionateallowances/

My Best to You and Everyone Here

Staying Positive
Your username stayingpositive says it all about you, way to go! I hope the links provided give you the help you need.
KR

stayingpositive said:

Thanks everybody!
Thanks everyone! I'm going to the SS office tommorrow, to see about getting a head start on everything, had to skip work friday as the radiation treatment made my neck so sore I couldn't hardly move. Going to ask the doc if this is going to happen again, i've only got two more to go thru.
My throat is a little sore and dry most of the time now, i'm constantly drinking something to keep it wet down. I've been trying to put on weight the last couple weeks so I don't loose so much during chemo, sheesh and I just did a personal diet plan when I turned fifty to keep me healthy I lost fifty pounds in five months, guess it didn't keep me healthy enough.

But anyway, hope what i've learned here pans out. Seriously, if I can get something going on and if I can motivate myself during chemo i'm going to take some online computer classes, I guess i'll have the time eh?

Tlhread
The links posted in this thread are great info for everyone. Would imagine all Onco and Rad centers know of them- they certainly best know of them. Never jobless, I figure my out-of-pocket C costs, counting weekly insurance premiums, have risen to around $11-K if I include the dental, over the last 3 1/2-years. Ouch! And that's with first United Healthcare, then BCBS.

Have a little info on the compassionate care program you may appreciate. The cousin I have mentioned, here, over the past 1 1/2-years got his entire C care payed for by the government/taxpayers. Not sure if this program was the one, or Medicaid- just that it really didn't cost him anything. By my reckoning, his total bills have to be at least $350,000! They/we paid for:

1)an entire C&R treatment, which included a week in the hospital
2)6 Pet Scans, and as many or more Cat Scans
3)a major 8-hour Op in which his voice box, etc., was removed
4)2 weeks in a regular hospital, post-Op
5)1 month in a Nursing Home
7)a little more Chemo and Rads
8)speech therapy, as well as untold number of other C Dr visits
9)an untold amount of medicine for a year and a half
10)the last 3 weeks in a Hospice care facility

And, to my knowledge, all of the above was taken care of without a hitch, so to speak, in that nothing was delayed pending approval by the government.

kcass