-JQ- Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 How about a hypothetical...? No insurance, no trust fund - what happens next? No politics please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
open17 Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Die? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-Ho Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Pay for everything you can. Go into debt if necessary. To me, my life is worth a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARKAVELI Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 (edited) Not much of a big religious person , but when I found out my 7 year old daughter was diagnosed wirh Leukemia AML M3, I prayed... I prayed and cried and prayed some more... Reason being is I then put my insurence to the test and it has then failed me!so your question, What would I do? Pray and I still dont know where the mental strength came from but I am making the best of this. My wife had to quit her job and stood in the hospital for 3 solid months, not to mention we just had a newborn and I just did the closing on our new house. I had not seen them in a while cause I had my 3 boys including my new born runing around to drop my son off to school and the baby off at daycare and having them tell me that my insurence has exhausted its self.. Wtf doe that mean? I had no money to put on the table so I went for gov help, errrrrrr "no sur you make to much!" Wtf I swore like it was the end of the world! There is not much one can do when your life is on hold cause of this nasty disease, well so I thought I wasnt gonna let this cancer or no help from my health coverage get me down even if it drains my bank acc or kills me! So I PRAY...... Edited September 22, 2011 by MARKAVELI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Vigilante Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 (edited) There are resources out there available for persons/families without insurance. Contact American Cancer Society for leads. I will pray for you/your family. May God be with you/your family during this time!! Edited September 22, 2011 by The_Vigilante Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heckler Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 So I PRAY...... And I will pray with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSEMARTIN Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 (edited) Until we get the medical malpractice lawyers under control, we'll never be able to control the cost of defensive medicine. Until the cost of defensive medicine is under control, those people without insurance will never be able to afford it. edit: spelling Edited September 22, 2011 by CSEMARTIN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eerw Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 So I PRAY...... And I will pray with you. And I as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARKAVELI Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 There are resources out there available for persons/families without insurance. Contact American Cancer Society for leads. I will pray for you/your family. +1 yes there is, I am at work so I had to cut my post short, I had made calls to ACS and depending where you live and if your doctors re feral it can be covered by public health, also try St Judes, at the hospital they should give you a med health counselor snd that is also there job to help and find places that can help.. The Ronald Mcdonald house has helped us out a lot.. My daughter my daughter is doing ok, getting her treatment and them bills are still coming in pilein high but she is what's important and so are you and or your love ones some reason things have just seemed to have found there own way of working themselvs out.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edison Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 We had a well-liked guy in the paintball community with kidney stones. The surgery for kidney stones costed like $40K. We had a play day to fundraise money, raffles and stuff. One guy even ebayed a rare paintball gun for ~$8 or ~$12K and donated it. Visit Cuba? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shooterbenedetto Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 County hospital, They will get treated..if it was me, I would get as much pain medication as I can! God bless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chills1994 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 no hablo englaish?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSEMARTIN Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 One place to start would be social services at the hospital. They are going to be the most knowledgeable about what is available for the uninsured. And once the bills are all tallied up, it's time to sit down with the bill collectors and try and negotiate a payment plan. A long time ago, I had a $1000 dollar ER visit that I was able to get down to $500 bucks. When I was a surgical resident, I was on Medicaid when my son was hospitalized. My wife and I still got hit with some pretty hefty bills and we were able to work out a payment plan with the hospital. It took us over a year to pay it all off, but we got it down without any problems. Back in the mid-90's, a friend of mine lost his eye in a freak accident while working on his car. He ended up losing his eye and was left with over 28K in bills. After all was said and done, he had to file bankruptcy. First and foremost, get yourself taken care of. Worry about the bills later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n1guess Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 As a fauther of 4 I almost cried. my heart goes out to you and I will pry for you and your family. I am so sorry that your family has to go through that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maksim Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Is Ohio a guaranteed issue insurance state? Are you covered by your employer plan? typically employer plans will have guaranteed issue. Worst case, start your own company and own group plan. Hospitals will typically have a charity care plan. Contact me if you need more help. maksim @ maksfs . com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 What CSEMARTIN and Maksim said. Our local hospital is run by its own foundation that offers what they call Bridge Assistance (among other things) that provides medical coverage for persons of modest income (but not totally poor). Chatting with a financial services counselor at your local hosipital is a great idea because they should have access to MANY resources for your situation that may be helpful or appropriate. Sometimes, too, a health provider you already may be seeing might have their OWN inner foundation of funding which covers certain individuals in need who qualify. In other words, there are hidden resources all over the place. I found out about them when I had my other hip replacement over Memorial Day. The clinic where my doctor works VOLUNTEERED the information about their funding options and, lo-n-behold, they covered ALL fees that were generated out of their clinic (including the entire surgeon's fee!!!). At the same time I applied for Bridge Assistance through the aforementioned hospital and received 100% medical coverage for six months (as long as I used health providers under the umbrella of their foundation). And like any creditor who wishes to maintain a payment stream, most hospitals and care providers will be happy to work out a payment plan for billing not covered by any established plan. Help is out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Smith Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 No insurance, no trust fund - what happens next? There are two sides to this question. One side is how to protect yourself in advance if you cannot afford health insurance. The answer may be to look into catastrophic health insurance. But, assuming you are asking what the title says - there are several foundations that will help with the costs as well as Medicaid. I had a good friend who fought cancer for 12 years this way. She was given 6 months to live more times than she could count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 . A long time ago, I had a $1000 dollar ER visit that I was able to get down to $500 bucks. The price you are billed as a private pay patient is frequently a multiple (yes, a multiple) of the price accepted as "payment in full" when the same procedure is covered by insurance. Hospitals often offer a discount if you cough up the cash (and generally won't unless you raise the spectre of non-payment) and, even with the discount, they will generally be collecting more than they would from an insured patient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-JQ- Posted September 23, 2011 Author Share Posted September 23, 2011 Thanks for all the responses and prayers. It was hypothetical - so far...but prayers always welcome. The back story is re:a few "moles" I had removed a few years ago and checked. The doc wasn't very convincing (should've gotten second opinion I guess) but said the results were ok. Now they seem to be coming back (one bigger and better) and other spots have various visual cues...but I've always been kinda moley and not a tanner. I got the Cherokee blood but not the pigment :-) But currently I don't have any health insurance and can't get it due to pre- existing conditions, duration of time since last insured, etc...what ever it takes to get black balled from insurance I seem to have or have had...blah blah blah. One caveat: I could marry my GF and get insurance through her work. They (her empl.) don't extend insurance to domestic partners unless your are ghey So, this has been on my mind lately. I really don't want to know and will likely put it off getting checked as long as possible. I'm not so worried about it being cancer as much as leaving my family with a bunch of med bills. If this sounds too dour for you...no one gets out of this alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-JQ- Posted September 23, 2011 Author Share Posted September 23, 2011 (edited) double tap... Edited September 23, 2011 by -JQ- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Vigilante Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Thought with Obamacare they couldn't deny you insurance coverage because of a pre-existing condition! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainmcphersn Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 I don't know what *I* would do at present. My wife found out she had Hodgkins lymphoma shortly after we started dating. She had no insurance and was able to get assistance though a private agency. She told me later that if I had not been in her life, she would not have had it treated. We have been married 18 years now and have three beautiful kids. Three years ago, my mom found out she had abdominal cancer and it was advanced to the point that it was terminal. She was in the hospital for a week while they ran the tests and went home to hospice care. They said she had about 2 weeks, she lasted 3. Even if her cancer had been treatable, I don't think she would have gone through it. She wanted to live the rest of her life with her dignity and she was able to do this. I had a friend who was in his late 20's who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He was newly married, had a very young son and he was strong as an ox. He had good insurance coverage and he first went into radiation, then chemo. He was in remission close to a year I think and was trying to get back to the things he used to doing physically. He relapsed and went downhill fast and died. I have seen cancer treatment at it's best with my wife who went through a year of chemo. It sucked. I have seen it hopelessly with my mom. It sucked. I saw it with my friend and the roller coaster it took him on and it sucked worse. So I honestly don't know exactly what I'd do. If the odds were bad, I would not want to leave a financial mess for my family. I'm not as religious as I once was but I fear dying less than living poorly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmccrock Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 Have you applied for insurance? I have some pre-existing conditions and they said no problem - just no coverage ever for those conditions. Even with those not covered, it is easier to get insurance later. I ended up with a high out-of-pocket policy; if something bad happened, I would have been out $10K, but the big stuff would have been covered. Thought with Obamacare they couldn't deny you insurance coverage because of a pre-existing condition! That part does not kick in for most of us until 2014. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-JQ- Posted September 25, 2011 Author Share Posted September 25, 2011 I've applied for various ins. options (even those who say "been turned downm, call us"), no no and no...and compared to most individuals I'm in "great" shape...resting HR <60, BP 120/80, etc etc... I even have a friend in the biz who I regularly taunt with wanting to buy insurance - even he won't talk to me. We need health care reform but not Bama-care...insurance reform is what we need....not to get political. And yeah, not sure I would take chemo either, I have seen mixed results too... Now ignoring it...maybe it will just go away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Round_Gun_Shooter Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 How about a hypothetical...? No insurance, no trust fund - what happens next? No politics please. For any member of my family I will do whatever it takes including working as much as my body will stand, borrow whatever I have to, and although not religious, I will follow in the footsteps of Markaveli and I would pray for the strength and ability to help my family. For me, I will not leave my family with debt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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