Help (serious): Resources for Health Insurance and Liver Cancer

In My Humble Opinion
1

Dopers - I have posted for a while here, but normally just post to “fun” threads. However, I sincerely need any help you can provide:

My sister-in-law is being tested for liver cancer - she has a number of symptoms and they are about to do a CAT scan in the next week or so.

Problem: She is on disability for an unrelated condition and as part of the agreement she had with her former employer, is about to be terminated from their health insurance coverage, I think by May '05.

This is scary. The read deal - she is basically staring into the void, not knowing what to do. We are starting to circle the wagons, trying to figure out how to help. I thought of you guys as a resource. I did a search on “health insurance” but none of the threads were close enough in relevance. Please note: I work with health insurance companies doing strategy work - NOT product design, so I don’t know that area at all - and am going to reach out to some friends for ideas there, too.

If you have any ideas - please share:

  • On line resources to learn more about health insurance options for people in her situation?

  • On line resources for people with Liver Cancer? She is obviously diving deep into this one, but it is always worth getting your ideas.

Thank you,

Scott

2

Let me first say that I am so sorry for your sister-in-law and your family.

I have no idea about health insurance, but a good place to start for information about liver diseases, including cancer, is The American Liver Foundation. They’ve helped me try to figure out my chronic liver disease.

Best of luck.

3

I’m assuming you are in the U.S.A. Check out COBRA, a federal mandate:

Not knowing other personal financial details, I don’t know if she qualifies, but you could check out Medicaid.

Also Social Security Disability.

4

Thank you for your replies:

I will point her towards the AmLiver Foundation.

We are currently researching COBRA, Medicaid and Social Security options - I appreciate your thinking of them, too.

5

The National Library of Medicine’s MEDLINEplus has links to a number of medical information resources, some of which may be of help to you. There is a Liver Cancer page at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/livercancer.html

There’s also a Financial Assistance page at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/financialassistance.html that may be of some help.

6

Your sister might also talk to the hospital’s finance people. They usually have some ideas about resources she might be able to pursue.

Robin

7

{{{hugs}}}

You may also want to ask her former employer if she has the right to convert her insurance policy to an individual policy.

This is different from COBRA. In general, the premium would be more expensive, but the coverage is not time-limited, like COBRA.

8

We’ll check it out Harriet - thanks.

9

You don’t say where you live, so I don’t know if there is such a thing available where she is - but in Maryland, there is an option called the Maryland Health Insurance Plan. You can not be refused for insurance for any reason, even for pre-existing conditions like cancer, etc.

Good luck. I hope she can beat it.

10

Best of luck to you. My nearly indigent sisters-in-law both received good healthcare with absolutely no insurance or money. One was breast cancer (including mastectomy) and one was liver disease. They went to Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, IL and the finance people worked out a plan, which was basically, no one had to pay much. One was on Medicaid and the other just pays $10/mo. For the rest of her life.

11

Sorry Ginger - she’s in Illinois. I must’ve put that in the email I sent to contacts, but not my OP.

Kalhoun - I will check out that option, especially because it is in Illinois.

Thank you for the ideas and support.