The high price of PN

[carolynm]

....just thinking alot today about how expensive this whole mess is becoming. My husband has a good job and we have health insurance but it is still costing us thousands of dollars. Interesting that Loretta doesn't take insurance. I guess she's so busy, she doesn't have to. How are people who live paycheck to paycheck dealing with this medical condition? How are they getting the care they deserve. It just isn't right.

cari

[Celeste]

LOTS of PTs don't take insurance, and lots of insurance doesn't cover PT. I guess you just have to be glad somebody will do the work and find a way to pay them if you think it helps your case.

[Violet M]

Cari, I was also lucky that my husband had a good job and we were able to cover all of my medical expenses but my heart aches for those who can't. I think many of the docs will take small monthly payments and some hospitals -- especially public ones, will write off bills for people who are unable to pay and qualify. I know one person who charged up their credit cards for their travel expenses -- not sure if they ever paid off the credit cards. One friend who has a painful illness called transverse myelitis (symptoms similar to PN) went bankrupt and started over. Once you've run out of money and qualify for public assistance then medicaid or medicare will often pay.

[JAT]

Hi Cari.

This too has been weighing on my mind a great deal and of course can releate with you and many thousands of others with chronic illness. My husband and I are self-employed and have a 2-person "group" insurance (you can probably imagine how pricey that is), then I work for my oncologist (medical transcriptionist for 30+ years... and yes - that involves sitting), and I work for a local hospital doing the same thing (transcription) for 5 hours a day/4 days a week and then every 3rd weekend @ 8 hours/day - sitting.... all day) just to contribute a few extra funds to pay our bills. Our business brings in good money (on paper), but our overhead is huge. We're in debt up to our eyeballs due to countless things and add insult to injury the unbelievable medical bills. I quite honestly I don't know how long we can sustain this madness. Both my husband and I are in our mid-50's, he has his own physical issues; multiple problems from the repetitive hard physical labor that he does subsequently requiring multiple surgeries, the multitude of things that he had done during his younger years that he's now paying for, and my problems are worsening virtually by the day... The stress of illness, the stress of "working" with an employer who truly couldn't care less if you're dead or alive - they would like nothing more than for you to quit so they don't have to pay unemployment (medical transcriptionists are a dying breed as institutions and physicians are switching to whats called "voice recognition"), the stress of dealing with physicians who don't have any answers to what is causing my pain, won't admit it (ego issues there), and refuse to assist me, and trying to keep up with our indebtedness is mind-bending (literally). I posted elsewhere on the disability forum, but no one answered; I'm wondering if there is a difference between public aid (medicaid) and disability. One friend tells me that its one in the same however, from what I've read they're two entirely different entitites. If the latter is the case, I've also read that procuring disability is extremely difficult. Any comments?

[JeanieC]

Agree with Don, I do remember Ezer saying that you get Medicare 2 years after you are awarded disability. Disability in the USA can be from a policy with your employer or from your own personal policy, or can be from Social Security. A former co-worker of mine retired on disabilty due to a progressive neurological disease. She is paid 2/3 of her former salary through SS plus our employer's policy (both of them together). Now she has Medicare to pay her medical bills. This is called disability Medicare.

Medicaid differs by states and is for payment of medical bills to providers who accept it, which is often quite limited. Some states pay only for certain programs, such as pregnant women and children, blind and disabled, institutional (nursing home).
Medicaid pays secondary to any other health insurance you may have. Medicare for persons over 65 pays primary to other insurance, but I do not know whether disability Medicare pays primary or secondary.

[make-it-stop]

Tell me about it--I'm single, unable to work because of the pain, and am in an unfathomable amount of debt because of this.

[RachelJ]

I tried to get Medicaid once when I was unemployed and I didn't qualify even though I was making nothing and had no savings. I know have private insurance and it is expensive and the medical bills are a lot. I wish I could get on a group insurance plan to save some money.

[Faith]

Make-it-stop,

I see you also have SIJD. Have you been able to treat this effectively? I am pursuing this in hopes it is the cause of my PN and not a true entrapment.