Medical Insurance and Crohn's

Hi Cat....

Are you able to work? will you be going back to work? boy... i work in the insurance field of doctors' offices and know that pretty much THE only way these days to by-pass the pre-existing thing is to get your insurance thru an employer. And i feel for you... i just quit my job to move across country and i have the high cost of Cobra too until i find another job... can truly say i COULD NOT afford the meds i take without my insurance! the Remicade infusions alone run over $4000.00 every 2 mths. Can you apply for and get disability if you're too sick to work? i send good wishes for you to find an answer .... especially if the meds are helping!!

            debbie

 

Cats, that really sucks for you...I'm sorry about your health insurance woes. Is there any way that you can try and get Medicaid? You said that you were laid off because of your CD, which is really crappy, CD is a verifiable disease and disability, you should be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Anyway, you should try and get disability and Medicaid for your CD. Just a thought.

I know exactly what you're going through. I was diagnosed with CD right when I turned 19...conviniently the same time I was dropped from my parent's insurance...because of my age. Now, no insuance company will help me. It sucks! The only way to get insurance is through an employer, just like someone already mentioned. I've been paying all my doctor's bills out of pocket. It sucks. One doctor told me that there are some sort of scholorships that are provided by a lot of major medication companies that will pay for all the costs. What kind of medication are you taking? I suggest you talk to your doctor to see if he knows of any kind of scholorships. If not, I'll hook you up with some numbers.

Good luck!

M

Hey im not too sure about getting insurance on your own.

But if you are able to work I would highly suggest getting a job at Starbucks. You only have to work 20 hours a week or 3 days and you get excellent insurance. They always paid for my remicade no problems.

Good Luck!!

i also lost my cobra last april, went to blue cross office and the lady working there stirred me away.i had heard that the blues couldn't turn me away or ask about my previous medical history. well guess what? i call them and didn't mention my previous visit. i now have in hospital insurance only at 170.00 a month. covers my room and drs. really didn't think i would need it. sure enough i landed in the hopital for almost 2 weeks. infected bottom, need i say more? their is a 2500.00 deductable yearly but my hospital charges are going up, their about 27000.00 at this time. i'm going to have to work out a payment plan with the hospital. i will be eligable for medicare in a year so am praying all the meds keep out of hospital til then.plus i'm ordering my meds on line. only way i can begin to afford them. i wish you well. life is good right now. making lemonade .

I am paying over 600 for COBRA now. I like the notion about Starbucks... called one yesterday. If they offer good insurance for over 20 hours a week, I think I am going to apply... need another job, though, as they only pay 8.00 an hour or something like that. Still having a DIFFICULT time finding work with crohn's. It is unbelievable to me the hoops contract work makes one jump through as far as medical exams and drug screening. Which I don't have issue with drug screening... but that last job where I was turned down due to crohn's and being prescribed pain medication kind of left a sour taste in my mouth. My family told me under no circumstances, even on screens, list crohn's... think I will listen to that the next time.

I wish there was a crohn's employment board... or that crohn's was more protected as far as disabilities.