"Please pay within 30 days"...uh..yeah, okay..

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Got a whopping bill from my surgeon.  "Please pay within 30 days"  I laughed out loud.  Unfortunately we have a VERY high deductible.  And the hospital bills are now rolling in too.

I feel as if I have the wrong attitude, but none of these places are getting their payments ANYTIME soon.  We've had a significant loss of income when my husband's employer cut his overtime; and I had to take time off from working on line.  The old saying about not getting blood from a stone holds true here.....

anyone have any suggestions?   I looked into "copay" assistance but that's only for chemo treatments.  Are there places that help with prescription drugs (that's coming -with the chemo) and surgery and hospital bills? 

Comments

  • cathmg
    cathmg Member Posts: 278
    edited August 2010

    Hi Calamtykel,

    I have no words of wisdom, just wanted to commiserate. My husband and I have high deductibles ($3500 each) and have met them this year, and I have outstanding dental bills and bills from the plastic surgeon. A new bill for my dh's colonoscopy came in today-all while we are sending our daughter off to her first year of college ($$$$$$). I don't know how we'll cover it all. My plan is to send in partial payment on each bill.

    Next year our deductibles go up to $4000. I told my husband that we can't get sick.

    Best wishes,

    Catherine

  • gale1525
    gale1525 Member Posts: 232
    edited August 2010

    You need get them to take a payment plan. I used the healthwellfoundation.org for co-payments. Good Luck

  • marcy4
    marcy4 Member Posts: 162
    edited September 2010

    Your stories make me very glad I live in Canada.  My hospital bills are all covered and my work insurance has covered all of my other expenses of drugs and whatnot. I must add, however, that my husband and I have an outstanding benefit package through our employer that is difficult to match.  I have been on LTD since February.  I do not understand how so many of you ladies deal with the stress of having cancer and the financial worries/concerns that go with it. I know I couldn't handle it!  Best of luck.

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited August 2010

    Stress kills and then they won't get paid at all!  Do what you can with a payment plan.  From the little I know, as long as you make a regular payment each month, no matter how small, it will help to not totally kill your credit rating, so get them to work with you.  If they don't and you have to declare bankrupcy they, again, won't get paid so it's in their best interest to work with you.  Check lluistro's resource.

    Best of luck (and you already know to whom you belong!)

  • revkat
    revkat Member Posts: 763
    edited August 2010

    Many hospitals have funds available to cut the charges for those with financial need. Never hurts to ask. I had a friend with a high deductible policy who had an ectopic pregnancy. Her husband met with someone from the hospital and they basically cut the charges in half. And they they paid it a bit at a time.

  • ibcmets
    ibcmets Member Posts: 4,286
    edited August 2010

    I have a patient advocate who provided me a small pamplet "Managing the Cost of Cancer Care" from www.cancer.net.  I think it was written or supported by the American Society of Clinical Oncology.  There's lots of financial resources in it & phone numbers from cancercare.org, cancercarecopay.org, cancerfac.org, healthwellfoundation.org, needymeds.com, copays.org & so many others.  I would contact them for a copy.  Good Luck finding assistance.

    Terri

  • gale1525
    gale1525 Member Posts: 232
    edited August 2010

    Try to see if you can get Hill-Burton funds www.hrsa.gov 1-800 638-0742.

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited August 2010

    revkat is right.  Check with your hospital.  Tell them you do not have the money to pay the bill/s.  People donate to hospitals and also they get government grants.  They will send you something to fill out if they have a program to help you.  Also, most hospitals do not mind setting up payments IF you can make those payments. 

    Good luck. 

  • lovemygarden
    lovemygarden Member Posts: 342
    edited August 2010

    And in some states (NY is one but I don't know about others) hospitals are REQUIRED to give you a payment plan if you ask them for one, whether you qualify for any financial aid or not; they cannot legally refuse. And there may be a limit to how much interest they can charge (if any) on such a payment plan.

    However, in NY that "must give a payment plan" law only applies to bills sent directly to the patient from a hospital; individual doctors, practices, labs, etc are not required to set up payment plans.

    YMWV depending on what state you live in. 

  • PauldingMom
    PauldingMom Member Posts: 927
    edited August 2010
    Contact your hospital where you had the surgery. Most hospital, if not all, offer help if you qualify. 
    I had double coverage from outside agencies with chemo.Money mouth but couldn't find anyone to help with raditation or surgery. I finally got approved by the hospital which opened up doors on down the line. One year after and I've almost got everyone paid off. Of course this means our deductible is due againFoot in mouth
  • IronJawedBCAngel
    IronJawedBCAngel Member Posts: 470
    edited August 2010

    Contact Livestrong and register with the SurvivorCare program.  They will set you up with an intake counselor with Patient Advocate Foundation and there may be some help with out of pocket expenses.  They have helped a lot of people, unfortunately I was not one because too much time had elapsed since I was diagnosed.

    It truly sucks to survive cancer only to lose everything else.  There are too many of us who fall in between the cracks of available social programs.

    I hope you find someone to help you.

  • Bren-2007
    Bren-2007 Member Posts: 6,241
    edited August 2010

    And in my area, if you are late on your monthly payment, you are summoned to appear in Court.  We were summoned twice for late payments on a $700 debt.  My dh no longer has his 6 month lung scans ... too expensive now that he has a $1,000 deductible.

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