Crohn's Disease and Finances

I am in your boat.. we are struggling...I was on fmla while they decided what the heck was wrong with me..than put on short term disability, than they let me go... I am trying to get approved for long term disability..hubby lost his second job because I was hospitalized twice and needed a ride home from the hospital.. we are screwed... we have so many freaking bills from the crohn's between medications, the mayo, the university, the other local hospital.. the pancreatitis.. ick.

same boat you are in...it sucks. I am sorry you and so many of us are...but really.. we can only take one day at a time and do what we can... and always try to find something positive that keeps us going , right?

hugs to all.
Christine

I honestly don't know what the solution is. We have good insurance and it covers most everything, after I/family have met our deductible for the year. With CD that was't hard. I was away for the first 2 weeks of January so I had no expenses, yet somehow I managed to meet my deductible by the middle of February. On paper it sounded like the perfect plan. A set amount without any hidden costs. But as time has gone by they are now deciding that certain things they won't cover, or at least not in the most convenient way. Like B12 shots, It's dirt cheap to do them at home, but this is not a covered expense. They will cover it If I go to my doctors office and have it done there. Common sense tells me that the doctors office is a lot more costly. But they dont'/won't look at the picture, only that they don't pay. No further decusion,

This is why I will do my best to never have a gap in coverage.
My neice was just in a car accident and she has no health insurance. She was in the ICU for 2 days and then a med/surg unit for 2 more. She has appointments with speciallists, at least on a week for the next month. She will walk away from this with a huge medical bill that she will be working off for the rest of her life. Probably won't be able to go back to college this year because of the bills. Its really no one's fault but her own and her parents, but there should have been a policy out there that she could have bought that would have been affordable.

I'm in the same boat too, it seems like a lot of us are in similar positions.

So far we haven't been hit really hard but I know that could come at any time. we have a bit set aside (we saved our own and the rest was the tax credit for our home) for if/when it happens. Most hospitals offer financial options, have you looked into those? I know the system here has an option for 3 months where there's no interest and after that it's a low rate interest and you can do it on lower monthly payments. This is an expensive disease and I can't even fathom not having insurance to help with some of the cost. :S

I dont even know what to do about my bills. I am 20 years old and trying to start college. I was in the hospital for 45 days and had 2 surgeries and multiple procedures while there, not including the ten doctors i saw just from my office, plus the surgeon bill, infectious disease doctors, ect. I know I owe the hospital alone over $400,000 dollars. Not including what I owe the dr. offices. And then I owe another hospital about $50,000 and im only 20. I try not to worry about the bills because, even if I tried there is no way to pay them. I dont know what to do or where to turn. I was denied social security.I am just hoping I dont get denied for my student loan because of the medical bills.

I know what you mean about the financial stress.  This is one expensive disease.  My premiums are $16,000/year with $4500 ded.   These premiums go up every year and this is just for me and our 2 kids.  I don't know how much longer we can pay these kind of premiums.  We don't qualify for any kind of assistance so eventually everything we make will be going toward insurance premiums if they keep increasing at this rate.  They were raised 20% a week after the new health care bill was passed.  I can only hope I don't live long enough to financially destroy our family because I can't afford these premiums for another 15 years until I can be on Medicare, if it's still around.

Zanne, a year's supply of B12 in one bottle is dirt cheap. The necessary 5/16" (I forget the guage) needles are more expensive than the B12 but not unaffordable. That would be cheaper than the gas to drive to the doctor's office. You really don't need your insurance to cover this.