The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Community : All Content - Financial and Insurance Issues

Umemployed and have no insurance and worried about paying rent

communityreply@lls.org — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:28:53 GMT

I've just received a partial DX for B-cell Follicular Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

I just received notice that my unemployment is going to be drastically lowered. I have no medical insurance. Does anyone know if I would qualify for disability, SSI or even medicaid?(California is Medi-Cal)???

I'm 45 single and worried sick. I received the notice today. I don't even know if I'll be able to pay the rent with this new amount.

I live in California

Any information, anyone could provide would be so helpful.

On Cobra, will expire - insurance issues

memymac@charter.net — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:03:04 GMT

NEW QUESTION AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO PUT IT: I am losing my health insurance as i can no longer afford my premiums. My policy is my own personal, not through an employer. I live in California. Any thoughts?

medicaid and assets and SSDI?

communityreply@lls.org — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:37:51 GMT

I forgot about fast-track. You can pull money out of a mutual fund, but that may or may not be of benefit to you. In our state, they go back 3 years for resources, and money in an HSA would certainly count as a resource. However, if it is being used as income, it might be a "get around". You can also look in you area for an atty. that specializes in this. I would suggest an Elder Law atty. as they are well versed in this area- esp. protecting assets. They tend to be a bit expensive though- but I would think one appt would be all you need. I would advise avoiding the "I'll get your disability" attornies advertiesed on TV. Not that they are necessarily bad, but they take 1/3 of SS pay and you can probably get it w/o them.

Spend down is r/t Medicaid, and might be an Indiana term. Basically, you spend out of pocket on medical bills until you reach an acceptable income level then Medicaid kicks in. So, if you are $200 over the monthly income limit and your medical bills are expected to exceed this every month, you would be expected to pay that much toward the bills. Very similar to a deductible, but monthly.

you might check around for other benefits in your area. Some are very generous with their income allowance. If you are lower middle, there is likely some assistance available. Some places will count you and some wwon't d/t marital status.

Who ends up paying?

pamderry@aol.com — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:06:19 GMT

Sorry, Robert, I just saw this! One question---have you kept up COBRA coverage while you are laid off? If you have, and have never had any kind of interruption in coverage, when you are hired at a new job, they cannot use your medical history against you, or refuse to cover pre-existing conditions or impose waiting periods. Your COBRA plan will issue you a "COCC" or certificate of creditable coverage that has words to that effect for you to give your new employer's insurance.

I have had Leukemia and a transplant. I kept up my COBRA plan while I was recuperating for months (and unable to work) from my old employer. Cost a fortune, but because I'd never had a lapse in coverage, my new employer had to cover me from the moment my new insurance kicked in (and I kept up COBRA until that day), with no pre-existing condition exclusions. And when you are applying for jobs and interviewing, nobody needs to know your disease profile, you are just another job applicant who's been laid off looking for work. The fact that you have big drug expenses every month shouldn't even come up as an issue.

I, too, hope with "healthcare reorganization" someday we won't even have to worry about this stuff anyway, but I'm not holding my breath! In the meantime, you shouldn't have problems getting insurance at a new job as long as you have had COBRA from a previous employer. Good luck with the job hunting!

Pam

Plan D choice advice for a Gleevec user in CA.

communityreply@lls.org — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:39:40 GMT

We live in CA. My husband has CML, takes 600mg of Gleevec/day. He will be going on Medicare in 2010. We need to choose a Plan D. I would like to know if anyone out there , living in CA, is on a Plan D that he/she is happy with and what kind of annual cost they are incurring. I would really appreciate some info. on this issue.

Need Medication

communityreply@lls.org — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:11:17 GMT

My mother was diagnosed with Leukemia on April 4th and she has yet to receive any medications. She applied for pay assistance and there seems to be one glitch after another between the pharmacy, doctor's office, and the LLS (LLS has agreed to pay for her 1st month prescription). Currently, the pharmacy is stating that the check from LLS has been lost/misplaced, therefore, no prescription can be mailed out until payment has been received/verified.

Has anyone been in a similiar situation? if so, what advice can you share so my mother can get a resolution to this ongoing nightmare?

Thank you.

Medicaid and IRA question

communityreply@lls.org — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:05:25 GMT

Both my husband and I were laid off last year and have no insurance. My COBRA payment would have been more than what I was getting in Unemployment and I was getting the maximum allowed. After I was diagnosed and had racked up about $40K in Medical expenses, I applied for Medicaide only to be denied for having too much $$. Both my husband and I are unemployed with no income. But I have an IRA - actually a distribution of a Pension Plan when I was laid off last year. In Colorado, if you have more than $2,000 in assets, you are denied. I was told that if the assets were in my husband's name alone, they would not be counted. Heck, they even asked for the blue book value of my 15 year old car.

The IRS allows you to withdraw your IRA funds penalty free to pay medical expenses. You still have to declare the funds as income for that year and pay income tax on it - but there isn't an early withdrawal penalty. Needless to say, I'm going that route. I am going to find out if I can get checks payable to the various Medical Service Providers that I owe money too. Having to deal with medical expenses on top of Chemo is just too stressful. and your boyfriend are

If any of his expenses are with your local hospital, find out if they have any financial assistance plans. Most of my Medical Service Providers said they would match the discount given my the hospital.

Good Luck. I hope your boyfriend is able to get the assistance he needs.

Gwynn

WILL MEDICARE REIMBURSE TRAVEL AND LODGING FOR TRANSPLANTS?

communityreply@lls.org — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:33:33 GMT

My thoughts are no... but this is just an educated guess. You can call 1-800 Medicare and find out. Medicaid may have some funds available.

College?

communityreply@lls.org — Thu, 14 May 2009 01:44:24 GMT

on the www.planetcancer.com

website there is a beta program for identifying college scholarships --- just found it so maybe someone here can describe their experience.

Here is their value statement: "Welcome to CCCpedia, the premier source of college scholarship information for young adult cancer survivors. CCCpedia contains comprehensive and accurate information on more than 3,000 college scholarships totaling $5.8 million in financial aid!"

It certainly looks promising.

Donor search not covered?

communityreply@lls.org — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:33:57 GMT

Hello,

My wife had Lymphoblastic Lymphoma and completed 8 rounds of HCVAD and a year of maintenance chemo. Apparently the chemo damaged her bone marrow and now she has MDS/AML. Doesn’t cancer suck?

We are now looking at a stem cell transplant. We have good insurance but it will not cover the donor search. The hospital informed us that it will cost us 2-3K per match attempt and there are 30 potential matches. Normally they would test 10-15 but since we have to pay for them they will test 3-5 at a time. They will not even start the process without a 10K deposit.

As anyone else had this problem? Are there grants or programs we can apply for? With the lead time involved will we find the best match in time?

Troubled,

cwg