Financial Questions

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SusanCatt9608
SusanCatt9608 Member Posts: 2
edited June 2014 in Caring for Someone with Breast cancer
If a cancer patient loses their health insurance because he can no longer work, what other options out there? My husband and I are potentially facing this issue with my mother-in-law; her disability will be up in April, but she's feeling very bad and might not be able to work.

I've been thinking about social security, perhaps? Or maybe Medicaid? Have any of you all faced this with loved ones? My husband and I would be glad to help her, but only a few doses of her chemo drugs would totally wipe us out financially.

Her life depends upon her chemo; we have to find a way to finance it. What options are out there?
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  • truthseeker
    truthseeker Member Posts: 13
    edited March 2007
    Susan,

    The first place I would start is to call your state department or Health and Human Services, (may have another name in your state) or you local county health department.
    Ask them to refer you to the the person or persons who administer your state' breast and cervical cancer program.
    Every state has one, although sometimes it is hard to get to the right person. If you Mom qualifies, (she needs to be no older than 64, then it is possible that all of her treatment expenses will be covered. This is actually a medicaid program, but it is funded under a specific legislation. If she is not qualified for this program, then ask your treatment center regarding financial aid. Again, most places have an aid program, sometimes not well advertised, but it is there.
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  • LuAnnH
    LuAnnH Member Posts: 8,847
    edited March 2007
    has your mom been on disability? medicaid kicks in after being on disability for two years. Now her employer can't fire or let her go because of the breast cancer. As long as the doctors give her a letter she can remain off work and she needs to be offered cobra. You haven't really given us enough information to direct you the right way.

    LuAnn
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  • SusanCatt9608
    SusanCatt9608 Member Posts: 2
    edited March 2007
    I guess I probably don't truly know enough information, and maybe I'm even jumping the gun a little bit. I'll tell you what I do know, though.

    She is 60 years old. She was diagnosed with breast cancer with metastasis in September of 2006. Prior to the diagnosis, she had been working full-time for her current company for approx. 3-4 years.

    When she was diagnosed, she immediately took long-term disability. From what she says, her disability will be up in April, and she'll have to return to work. I'm assuming this means that she'll have to return to work in order to continue getting paid; I can't imagine that they'd let her be out on paid leave indefinitely.

    I guess they'll let her be out on unpaid leave, but that still leaves me with the question about how to pay for her insurance and such. I imagine that, like my company, if she's out on unpaid leave, she'll have to actually pay out of pocket her portion of her insurance costs. If she's not being paid, I don't know how she'll pay for it.

    And how can a company afford to have an employee out on disability for years? That doesn't make sense.

    Something else that doesn't make sense to me is that she claims that she's still accruing vacation time and sick time while she's out on disability, so she says she's not losing anything by taking all of her disability now.

    We live in Texas. If she's truly unable to work, will she be put on indefinite unpaid leave? If you're on unpaid leave, do you get the same insurance benefits you had as an employee or do you have to take COBRA? And if she has to take COBRA, do they cover chemotherapy for a pre-existing cancer?

    How will she afford COBRA if she's not being paid? It's very, very expensive, right?

    I will look into the State Department thing - thank you for the suggestion.

    I feel a little frantic ... she felt fine for so long (good enough to do major home repairs during her diability time off) and I encouraged her to go back to work. She acted like I was being totally nasty to even suggest that, and maybe it seems that way, but really, I was just fore-seeing exactly this situation - where she finally truly feels bad but is out of paid time off/disability. I'm afraid my husband and I are going to have to be financially responsible for her, and that scares me because we just can't afford her treatment. When she's doing so well (her cancer shrunk 40% after the initial 8 weeks of chemo)I can't bear the thought of her going backwards simply because we can afford treatment.

    I'll look into all the things you suggested, and I'll tell her to find out about COBRA from her employer. Thanks for the ideas.
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  • roseg
    roseg Member Posts: 3,133
    edited March 2007
    Is she well enough to return to work?

    Women who are Stage IV qualify for social security disability. When you've been on that two years then you qualify for Medicare. You'll have to see what having been on her employers long-term disability does regarding that. Perhaps you get credit for that time.

    I think she should be checking into this now because April is coming up pretty soon.

    The reoccurence/metastatic topic has some posts about SSI disability, and more ladies who know about it.
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  • LuAnnH
    LuAnnH Member Posts: 8,847
    edited March 2007
    She is eligble for Social Security Disabilty being Stage IV, the paperwork is time consuming. You said she was on Long Term Disabilty, but are you sure it isn't Short Term Disability? That is usually when you are going to be out of work around 6 months maybe??? Then Long Term Disability kicks in. You are eligible for Social Security Disabilty payments once you have been out of work with a disabilty fo 5 months. Anyway here is a link for Texas with laws dealing with employment http://www.texaslawhelp.org/TX/index.cfm

    Also here is a link for a thread dealing with SSD and mets. Hope this helps
    http://community.breastcancer.org/ubbthr...ge=3#Post424992

    LuAnn
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  • CaliforniaKate
    CaliforniaKate Member Posts: 258
    edited March 2007

    If she takes Cobra thru her company, she will be able to keep her old insurance, at the rate the company has been paying for it, and her coverage will stay the same. But she will have to make the insurance payments. Her pre-existing condition will still be covered. I'm in Ca. and we are elegible for Cobra coverage for 18 months, and then another 18 months of Ca.Cobra. Check with your state to see if you have anything beyond Cobra.

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  • LuAnnH
    LuAnnH Member Posts: 8,847
    edited March 2007

    All companies have to offer Cobra, it is usually for up to 6 months, but with Stage IV cancer you can apply for an extension to keep it for 18 months.

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