Do you know anyone who needs a medical procedure but can't afford it (or the co-pay)?

In My Humble Opinion
41

I have a cyst the size of a golfball sitting on my right ovary. It hurts. Should it rupture, it’ll hurt a lot and possibly bleed a whole bunch. I can’t even afford to see a doc to find out if it’s growing, shrinking, or staying the same.

I also have bouts of severe depression, ADD, and migraines. I’m long overdue for dental work, and I’m just getting over an infection in my lower jaw that had me curled up in bed, praying for relief or death.

I have health insurance through my last job. As a matter of fact, thanks to the federal government’s subsidy, my COBRA health insurance is a third the cost of what it was while I was working. However, it covers only $1000 outpatient per year and $50,000 in patient per year. I also have to get pre-approval to go to the Emergency Room.

If I can land a job, it may have better health insurance. Until then, I have to hope that the cyst on my ovary, the teeth in my jaw, and the neurochemistry in my brain don’t go south.

42

They did that in the Air Force, too. And it was pretty much a dichotomy between officer’s wives and enlisted wives. Officers wives got private rooms after childbirth, and a lot more medical attention. Enlisted wives were put in a large ward after childbirth. I believe that there were two dozen women in my ward with me. Of course this made it difficult to sleep. I also didn’t appreciate getting examined with just a privacy curtain drawn around me.

Pain control was considered completely optional…it was totally at the doctor’s discretion. I had ingrown infected toenails one time, and I was given the choice of having them taken care of without any painkiller, or of making an appointment in about two months’ time, when he’d have the time to inject my toes with painkiller. Really, how much time do these injections take? I’ve had similar problems as a civilian, and the podiatrist injects my toes, goes off and takes care of something else for a quarter of an hour, and then does his thing. The Air Force podiatrist didn’t want to wait, though, I guess. And I didn’t have a choice, I was unable to get around.

I don’t know how many times I was prescribed penicillin, despite the fact that my chart had one of those color coded alert stickers, and DESPITE THE FACT THAT I ALWAYS TOLD EVERY DOCTOR THAT I’M ALLERGIC TO THAT STUFF.

I did see a few doctors that actually seemed to care about my health, but they usually got transferred to another base before I could see them again.

43

Oh yeah. Too depressing to go into much detail.

44

I am acquainted with a cancer survivor named Vicki (real name). As a cancer survivor, no one wants to insure her and she is self-employed. A few years ago, her business was suffering and she was barely able to keep her house. She pulled her own abscessing tooth with a friend, a pair of pliers, and a bottle of tequila because the hospital wanted a payment up front and she had to choose between the tooth and losing her house.

45

Reminds me. It’s not current, but way back when, being a graduate student in Florida and having university-chosen insurance, I found a small, superficial lump on one of my breasts. I went to the university’s health center; they sent me “to a specialist.” I got the paperwork done, got the appointment and went.

My appointment was at 1pm. The specialist turned out to be a surgeon, something I wasn’t expecting at all: derma, gyne, onco… but a general surgeon? :confused: I got in after 4pm. Dude pokes and prods and says “you have cysts”. Yes, I do, always have, those are exactly as they have been since I was 14, it’s* this bump here* I’m worried about… I could have been talking to the wall. He makes me come back next day at 8am to run a test.

Because of the timing, I can’t get this preauthorized by the university. I go in, he takes a sample from the part with the cysts using a syringe large enough to count as a weapon. Five minutes.

The results come in. There’s nothing wrong with me according to the results, but since I have cysts, he wants to do a biopsy. Having already fought the insurance company (and won) over the payment for that minor test, there is no way I’m going to spend three days in the hospital (seriously, he wanted me to book in on Friday to get the biopsy on Monday - are you kidding me?) to check on something which he claims I need but, again, I’m worried about a lump, he’s worried about the cysts.

I called my mother and asked her to book me a gyne visit for the next time I was going home, six months later. Getting copies of my tests was a nightmare, apparently they were considered the property of the hospital whose lab had run the results: I had to pay for copies, and only reluctantly would they give them to me. The small lump went away on its own, so the gyne said it must have been fat. The cysts were fine, thank you much. The plane tickets to Spain were cheaper than the hospital stay would have been (just the stay, without adding the tests); Spanish medical costs, prepaid, and the Spanish doctor actually listened to me.

The same university sent two other students from my group to that same surgeon: a woman who was pregnant and a man with a broken ankle. I suspect there were payouts involved, but go and prove it.

46

My endometriosis could stand more intensive treatment than I’m currently giving it, which is basically throwing painkillers at it twice a month when it flares up badly.

I got some samples of Voltaren gel from my doctor. They worked wonders for the arthritis pain in my thumbs which is often substantial enough to make everyday activities difficult. But Voltaren topical ointment costs ~$100 a tube and a tube lasts about three weeks and while I could carve $1,700 out of my annual budget, that’d be $1,700 that wouldn’t be going to pay off some of my outstanding medical debts which will be eating me alive and destroying my upward mobility for at least the next decade.

47

Everyone - thanks for your input! Pease, keep them coming.

If you would like, you can PM me or email me at wgbccap@yahoo.com if you don’t want to tell your tale to the world here. I assure you complete confidence.

Let me ask you this: If an organzation were to offer to lend you the money (say you need $2500) for a medically necessary procedure, do you think you would be willing to pay it back? We realize that financial difficulties probably already exist, so it would be without interest, and only as you are able to pay. How likely would you be to take advantage of this?

48

I think this only works for things that are one-off situations, i.e. a surgical or dental procedure, and would be a great benefit to people who know that they have a discrete medical need that can be addressed all at once. But the nature of medical needs, it seems, rarely work that way. People need treatment for chronic conditions, people need diagnostics in order to know what long-term treatment they’ll need afterward, people let situations go for so long that they become complicated and will require, rather than a single procedure, a course of treatment. And debt is debt, whether it’s interest free or not, most people aren’t in a position in this economy to take on additional debt.

49

My honest opinion is that this scenario doesn’t really address the problem. I am currently getting what in essence are interest-free loans from the various medical billing organizations I owe money to. I don’t really need a middle-man.

The issue is, it is unlikely that I will ever, ever pay those “loans” off. The hospital will eat the cost (and pass that cost on to people who can pay, which is why an aspirin costs $150). The radiology department will get $20 every couple months until (what seems like) the end of time. Short of an unexpected and relatively large windfall, those bills won’t get paid off. Ever.

If you were talking about a grant, as opposed to a loan, that would help. As it is, I got what you offer, I still can’t pay it off.

50

Unfortunately, me. :frowning:

Lost my project management job while on medical leave for what turned out to be Fibromyalgia (whatta bunch of bull crap, going through all of those doctors and crap to just come out with some “doesn’t really mean anything” diagnosis).

Carried COBRA ($450/mo) for 18 months - ended 12/31/09. Months of scouring options has brought nothing feasible. Extreme fatigue, mental fog, & pain will make any job difficult if not impossible, but Those In Control and Who Know Me and My Abilities Better Than I :rolleyes: say I am not disabled and will be able to work. FWIW, I have been actively searching for full time work for over a year now…

Current medications, past pulmonary embolism, & sleep apnea have put me in the Pre-existing Conditions and High Risk category. Oh, sure, I could fill out the 38 page form for the State’s High Risk Insurance, but without a job, have no way of paying $650/mo, let alone the $2500 deductible…

Anyway – onto answering OP: I have extreme pain, tingling, & numbness in left hand/thumb, diagnosed with that electrode test as severe Carpal Tunnel.

I have no idea of how or way I will pay for my 3 brand name and 4 generic prescriptions I use daily, let alone surgery for for Carpal Tunnel (which was performed on right hand in 2008 and resulted in excellent and full recovery and relief.)

While that sounds great, I would have a hard time figuring out how & when I could pay it back, given my current situation and forseeable future. But, I’d be interested in further details of such a program.

51

I thought that CareCredit already filled that niche? But maybe you are looking at extending lines of credit to folks who would otherwise be denied due to poor credit ratings?

52

One major reason most cases of whooping cough are not reported to the CDC is they are not diagnosed. Most doctors do not test for it, because “everyone is vaccinated, so it can’t be that.”

All I know is, the cough I had 2 years ago that kept me out of work for 3 months sounded exactly like every recording of someone with whooping cough I have heard. Worst part was my doctor would not give me an excuse for missing work, because “It is just a cough.” Blacking out from lack of oxygen because of coughing too hard to breath didn’t matter.

As for the OP, pretty much everyone in my family. My mother and father are both on Medicare, but mom only has SS, so really can’t afford to see the doctor or get her perscriptions filled as often as she should. My sister and I are both unemployed, she couldn’t afford the COBRA payments and mine ran out last February.

I have osteo-arthritis in my shoulders and knees, rheumatoid arthritis in my hands, hypo-thyroidism, NASH, and lesions in my brain that might be MS. Or might not. I had to cancel the annual visit to the neurologist for the lesions, because I couldn’t afford the fees for that, never mind the MRI that is supposed to check if the lesions are growing.

And at this point in my life, I should be getting checked for a long list of things that my family history says I have a predisposition for, like cancer (Someone in my family has had pretty much everything except prostate cancer.) heart disease, strokes, diabetes (Type I & II), etc. Of course, I am not getting screened for anything at all. Such is life.

53

(bold added)
:eek: And this is acceptable to you? He had equity, so he was “OK”??? This spells a perfectly acceptable way to acquire a required-for-life medical procedure to you? Not to me! This guy did not do all the right things - work hard, buy a house, pay his mortgage, purchase “excellent” insurance - just to put *everything *on the line for his *second *open-heart surgery so he could live! What if he can no longer work? Who makes the loan payments? Where would any further “excellent” insurance come from? What if he needs further surgery? Where will the next equity loan come from? What if he loses his house?

I find it simply outrageous that anyone thinks this is all right! Your friend was royally screwed by our current healthcare system and you can’t even see it. OMG. I weep for our country.

54

Me and my kids.

I am a student with no health insurance. I have applied for Medicaid for my children but continue to be given the runaround at the office (every time it’s another form that someone “forgot” to give me the last time and by that time the application from the first time I went it is expired - honestly I gave up after that). It is frustrating to the point of tears in many instances because I feel as though I am skimping on a basic right of my children. All three of us need to see the dentist, and I got new glasses for Christmas because I need them to see. I’d like to have my oldest son tested for allergies and get both their eyes examined.

I am in nursing school and am friends with doctors and nurses so my health care plan consists of bartering favors with friends for medical care for my children and forgoing it for myself except for when I need a prescription, but mostly I treat myself with OJ and good wishes if I am not well.

We have a year and a half until I will graduate, take the NCLEX and get a job with some insurance. I will be holding my breath until then.

It sucks for sure, but it’s one of those things I have to do. I figure a catastrophic injury (say, anything from a broken arm on one of the kids to a car accident) will have to be paid off on a monthly basis for as long as it takes.

If there were a program where I could go and not get treated like shit every time I walk in the door (I used AllKids when I lived in Alabama - a low cost kid’s insurance program - and was working but could not afford my company’s health care, and it was wonderful) I would definitely take advantage. I’d be more than willing to work off my debt as well doing whatever I could, whether it is cleaning the home of people that disburse the money or taking blood pressures at a health fair or cleaning toilets.

55

Totally agree with this.

We need a much, much better system. For all those who can’t pay for treatment, that cost gets passed to those who can – resulting in higher prices, resulting in even more people who can’t afford to pay, and on and on it goes.

(This is what ticks me off about those who object to healthcare reform based on the idea that they don’t want to pay for someone else’s medical care. The fact is, we all already are doing just that. Having some form of UHC would just allow the insane vicious-cycle cost-inflation to end, so it would be cheaper to pay for someone else’s healthcare. And your own, because you’ll need it eventually.)

56

Yes. He had two major surgeries and two fairly long hospital stays. In the end, his monthly payments were about what he used to spend per month on Fast Food. He stopped his expensive and heart killing double-baconcheeseburger and large fries habit, and switched to sandwiches made at home. He is now fine with it, and his Chol numbers are better.

He & his wife never ever saved, they used their equity as their savings. In this case, his Home equity loan was something like 2% of his equity- he had almost $500K in equity and the loan was for $10K. Both he and his wife make enough to make the house payments on their own, they’re fine.

57

I know a woman who has early stage cancer, of an aggressive form, and while she has health insurance, has not had it that long, and so the insurance company has declined to pay for treatment. Her family is paying for the treatment out-of-pocket because the state program that would otherwise cover her won’t since she has insurance, after all. Luckily, her prognosis is excellent with this treatment, but if she did not have family able and willing to help…

I used to work in hospital collections. How many stories do you want to hear? Almost no one doesn’t pay medical bills because they don’t feel like it – they don’t pay because they cannot afford it. Crappy insurance plans with huge deductibles and limited service mean patients are stuck with the rest of the bills, and paying $20 a month will not stop collections from happening.

58

Count me in among that number. I have pretty bad sleep apnea, but I cannot afford to diagnose or treat it properly…at least not through official channels. A local company actually would be willing to work with me to get me the studies for diagnosis and titration on a pro bono basis, however there are still several problems: I would still have to buy the cpap equipment that I couldn’t afford, and it would also make the apnea (and all the problems that it complicates) pre-existing conditions when/if I ever do get insurance coverage.

As it is, I have access to a medically-safe but less-than-legal solution to this problem, but that is only due to several personal connections that I have.

59

What we are envisioning is finding people who are putting of or not having needed treatment or medicines because they cannot afford it. If they have had it and gone to collections, I don’t think that is the avenue we are pursuing.

60

Yes, but you proclaimed that he had excellent insurance. Say his heart surgery was required by someone else on his allegedly excellent plan, and that person didn’t have a house to pull equity from. That person would’ve been screwed.

Having good credit or a house with high equity shouldn’t be requisites for having needed, life-saving surgery.