losing insurance

damama24
damama24 Member Posts: 174 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Don't know what to do. My long term disability ends in Feb. and since I'm not able to return to work I will lose my ins. Don't know yet if I'll qualify for medicade. Can't afford cobra payments to keep ins. from job. I guess when ins. stops treatment stops. I'm scared and don't know what to do.

Comments

  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #2
    Insurance
    I have never heard of a hospital that threw out a cancer patient, maybe there is but I have not heard of it. Most ALL facilities will take ANYTHING that you can give them. If you can only pay $20 a month, then just pay that.

    Most always there is constructive input on this site.
    I'm sure others who are dealing with this will chime in.
    -phil
  • PamPam2
    PamPam2 Member Posts: 370 Member
    #3
    Insurance
    You can apply for social security, either ssd or ssi, this in turn will help you get medicaid. If you are stage 4 it is approved pretty quick. Any bills you incur before it is approved, they will back pay or reimburse you. This is what I had to do. I did have to change a couple of doctors, such as my primary and my gastro, as the one's I had first did not accept medicaid, but it all worked out ok. The department of human services also is a good place to start, they also help with medical, and food stamps are approved there. I made one trip to the social security office and the caseworker there did all the paperwork on the computer for me, they sent a huge stack of papers to me, but as soon as I had my surgery and was found the cancer had metastised, it was all done over the phone as I was so sick. I hope this helps, and best of luck.
    Pam
  • tammy41
    tammy41 Member Posts: 48
    #4
    same thing happend to me
    i live in new hampshire but pretty sure this might work for you. the same thing happend to me so i talked to my employer and there is a new goverment program that allows you to only pay 35 % of the cobra and the goverment pays the rest for 18 months. and if you were not fired you should be approved for it. that brought the payment down to 207 a month . then i went to the hospital where i get my treatments and spoke to the financial people there and they payed for my insurance for 1 year. so buy the time all this is used up i will be able to get medicare.. you should have recieved a packet from cobra all the paper work should be in there.. i know this is scary i went crazy thinking my insurance would end but there is help. so please call if i can help in any way 603-581-2288 best of luck tammy
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #5
    question
    Hi,

    I'm sorry to hear about this upcoming insurance worry. You said your long term disability is about to run out, but you can't go back to work. If you can't go back to work, wouldn't you still be considered disabled, thereby still qualifying to continue getting the long term disability? Is the long term disability you're getting through your employer or through social security disability? That would make a difference. If it was through your employer, but you're still not able to work, then you should be qualified to apply for long term disability through social security.
    I know that about 7-8 months ago my "year" was up (they check each year w/ your doctor to see if you still qualify) and my oncologist had to fill out forms stating how I was still qualified to get disability. During this time, I thought that I was NED, yet I was still having issues with chemo brain/short term memory, forgetting words, etc. (which makes it pretty hard to go back and function as a teacher). My onc filled out the paperwork as such and I continued to get disability and am still currently getting it. What stage are you? If you are stage IV, then it will pretty much be approved without question, even if you're not in active treatment. If you're less than stage IV, your qualifying would be based more on your symptoms and why your doctor would consider you unable to work at this time.

    I know this doesn't address the health insurance issue, but hopefully you can at least still qualify for the disability monthly income. Whatever is keeping you from being able to go back to work should hopefully qualify you to still get long term disability.
    How long have you been on the disability? If it's been 2 years, you should be able to qualify for early Medicare, regardless of your age. If it hasn't been 2 years yet, talk to your doctor and see if he/she can't find a way to still qualify you for the disability so you can at least get to that 2 yr point so you can qualify for Medicare.

    Medicaid (different than Medicare) could also be another option. That is for people with a qualifying lower level income. If you qualified, this would be government assistance for your health insurance.

    Best wishes to you-
    Lisa
  • geotina
    geotina Member Posts: 2,111 Member
    #6
    Insurance
    Unlike Lisa most disability policies have a specific period of time that you can collect. Check with your employer. The poster is correct about COBRA, you can get a reduced rate depending upon income. If you have not already done so, you can apply for social security disability, I understand they fast track Stage IV, but there is still a waiting period, again, call the social security people or visit their office, they truly are helpful. Again, like the other poster said, you will not be denied treatment because of insurance issues, the hospital should be able to help you with this if you give them a heads up. It is something they see all the time. I too have heard about people being able to go on Medicaid while waiting for Medicare to kick in. A lot depends on income and assets so you may have to go the COBRA route for a while until Medicare kicks in. Good Luck - Tina

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