My mom was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in May. She’s a career waitress. With the loss of her $540/mo avg income, which was what was keeping their heads above water, the amount they bring in with social security is now less than the total sum of their essential bills. This doesn’t even include food and misc. hospital bills not covered by Medicare. I’m talking shit like mortgage and electric and oil. It’s a nightmare.
I obtained Power of Attorney and I’m working with their bills to do whatever I can to bring them down. My sister mercifully set up a Gofundme on Sunday that raised around $5K because so many people love my mom. It’s both incredibly uplifting and infuriating. Most importantly, it buys us time between now and the house being foreclosed on to sell the house as-is, but I have to find a place to move them into first.
I wish I could just process the looming death of my mom but there’s too much work to do.
EDIT: Some very, very generous people here have asked me for the link to donate. I’m speechless. Unfortunately, my replies with the link are auto-removed. If you search Gofundme for Barbara’s battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia it’s the first result. I’m so humbled that any of you even asked.
I work in a pharmacy, and we have this conversation with patients daily. I always go out of my way to recommend/find coupons and programs for my customers. It doesn't solve the problem, but it helps to give them a fighting chance at being able to afford to live.
Please remember:
There are coupons available. The best ones come straight from the manufacturer, and generally have to pair with commercial insurance. Most, but not all. All you have to do is search "drug name coupon" and type in some information.
If you don't have commercial insurance, or your insurance doesn't cover a particular medication, websites like GoodRX will have a coupon for the vast majority of generics. Just ask your pharmacy for help, we're more than happy to.
If all of that fails, or still isn't a price you can afford, you absolutely have the right to ask your doctor for something cheaper. Just because they prescribed X, doesn't mean it's the best or only thing for your condition. Your pharmacist can also request a change to a cheaper drug. Just get that dialogue going.
I still have to spend $100 a paycheck for the buy up plan so my deductible is $1500 and not 2k or more. I also get to spend thousands of dollars a year for tests to make sure my disease (crohns) isn’t active. I have to get a test done in September and I am already dreading the bill.
mattjh on August 25th, 2019 at 12:29 UTC »
My mom was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in May. She’s a career waitress. With the loss of her $540/mo avg income, which was what was keeping their heads above water, the amount they bring in with social security is now less than the total sum of their essential bills. This doesn’t even include food and misc. hospital bills not covered by Medicare. I’m talking shit like mortgage and electric and oil. It’s a nightmare.
I obtained Power of Attorney and I’m working with their bills to do whatever I can to bring them down. My sister mercifully set up a Gofundme on Sunday that raised around $5K because so many people love my mom. It’s both incredibly uplifting and infuriating. Most importantly, it buys us time between now and the house being foreclosed on to sell the house as-is, but I have to find a place to move them into first.
I wish I could just process the looming death of my mom but there’s too much work to do.
EDIT: Some very, very generous people here have asked me for the link to donate. I’m speechless. Unfortunately, my replies with the link are auto-removed. If you search Gofundme for Barbara’s battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia it’s the first result. I’m so humbled that any of you even asked.
Shnoota on August 25th, 2019 at 12:38 UTC »
I work in a pharmacy, and we have this conversation with patients daily. I always go out of my way to recommend/find coupons and programs for my customers. It doesn't solve the problem, but it helps to give them a fighting chance at being able to afford to live.
Please remember:
There are coupons available. The best ones come straight from the manufacturer, and generally have to pair with commercial insurance. Most, but not all. All you have to do is search "drug name coupon" and type in some information.
If you don't have commercial insurance, or your insurance doesn't cover a particular medication, websites like GoodRX will have a coupon for the vast majority of generics. Just ask your pharmacy for help, we're more than happy to.
If all of that fails, or still isn't a price you can afford, you absolutely have the right to ask your doctor for something cheaper. Just because they prescribed X, doesn't mean it's the best or only thing for your condition. Your pharmacist can also request a change to a cheaper drug. Just get that dialogue going.
cheekacheekayea on August 25th, 2019 at 12:40 UTC »
I have relatively good insurance through my job.
I still have to spend $100 a paycheck for the buy up plan so my deductible is $1500 and not 2k or more. I also get to spend thousands of dollars a year for tests to make sure my disease (crohns) isn’t active. I have to get a test done in September and I am already dreading the bill.
Our health “care” system sucks.