Wellness

[panda1234]

@Blingqueen023

Thank you. You never get over the loss, just try to live with it. From what I understand, and I could be wrong, some cancers are an age related thing. Older people, for some reason, get certain cancers and I think lymphoma might be one of them. You are right, we will never know.

[Financialgrl]

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@Blingqueen023 wrote:

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@panda1234 wrote:

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@Blingqueen023 wrote:

Don't come down with a Lymphoma.  I had 6 treatments with chemo and it was 33,000 dollars a treatment.  Thank goodness that the Lymphoma Society donated money to me to pay these bills and the American Cancer Society did the same thing.  Plus, I received Medical Assistance even though I was working.  I never even asked for medical assistance, the Oncologist office applied for it for me.  If it wasn't for that, I'd probably be in jail today, lol  

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Just wondering, did you not have insurance?

@Blingqueen023

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@panda1234I've had FEderal Blue Cross since I was 17 and I'm now 64 and still carry Federal Blue Cross.  I don't have Medicare yet so my patient responsibility would have been in the thousand of dollars.  Without the medical assistance that the office applied for me and the donations from the Lymphoma Society I would have made payments for the rest of my born days.   I'm forever grateful that this Oncology Office thought of applying for medical assistance for me.  After what Federal Blue Cross paid, the medical assistance and the donations paid the balance.  The chemo cost me nothing.  

By the way if you're wondering how I'm doing  The chemo took away the Lymphoma  I'm very grateful and happy about that  I'm doing very well.  Thanks for asking. 

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Yep, all cancers are horrifically expensive.  I too have Fed BC/BS insurance and not yet old enough for Medicare.  Even though the insurance is good, I battled an extremely aggressive cancer.  I had 2 surgeries, 8 chemos and 37 radiation treatments and I was responsible for paying the first $5000 worth of deductibles and copays (out of pocket) per calendar year.   My cancer crossed 2 calendar years so I once figured I paid $7500 out of pocket for cancer. 

And yes, that also was with copay assistance from the drug companies.  I'm 6 years cancer free and the cancer after care drug I take was horrifically expensive till there was a generic and that drug causes major bone loss which requires a Prolia shot.  Until the biotech company offered copay assistance for that shot, it was about $350 after insurance.  As they say "old age ain't for sissies", trust me when I say that the side effects of the cancer after care drugs and Prolia shot "ain't for sissies either" and they come with the added benefit of high costs until a generic comes along.  

[patbz]

DH had to be air evac'd eight years ago and the subsequent bill was $450,000 (even though we had Federal bcbs it was out of network--although the hospital we checked into was in network).  What a mess!  After a lot of appeals, meetings with bcbs and threats(to go to media, as ACA was being debated), we finally ended up paying $12,000-- not fun but doable!

[onlyshopsonline]

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@Blingqueen023 wrote:

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@panda1234 wrote:

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@Blingqueen023 wrote:

Don't come down with a Lymphoma.  I had 6 treatments with chemo and it was 33,000 dollars a treatment.  Thank goodness that the Lymphoma Society donated money to me to pay these bills and the American Cancer Society did the same thing.  Plus, I received Medical Assistance even though I was working.  I never even asked for medical assistance, the Oncologist office applied for it for me.  If it wasn't for that, I'd probably be in jail today, lol  

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Just wondering, did you not have insurance?

@Blingqueen023

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@panda1234I've had FEderal Blue Cross since I was 17 and I'm now 64 and still carry Federal Blue Cross.  I don't have Medicare yet so my patient responsibility would have been in the thousand of dollars.  Without the medical assistance that the office applied for me and the donations from the Lymphoma Society I would have made payments for the rest of my born days.   I'm forever grateful that this Oncology Office thought of applying for medical assistance for me.  After what Federal Blue Cross paid, the medical assistance and the donations paid the balance.  The chemo cost me nothing.  

By the way if you're wondering how I'm doing  The chemo took away the Lymphoma  I'm very grateful and happy about that  I'm doing very well.  Thanks for asking. 

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@Blingqueen023  We have Federal Blue Cross also.  I had surgery for thyroid cancer in May, plus all of the associated tests.  I thought the bills would never stop coming in.  But, there is a $5000 yearly cap.  Once I hit $5000, the insurance pays for everything until the end of the year.  Does that not apply to cancer treatments?

[Blingqueen023]

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@onlyshopsonline wrote:

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@Blingqueen023 wrote:

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@panda1234 wrote:

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@Blingqueen023 wrote:

Don't come down with a Lymphoma.  I had 6 treatments with chemo and it was 33,000 dollars a treatment.  Thank goodness that the Lymphoma Society donated money to me to pay these bills and the American Cancer Society did the same thing.  Plus, I received Medical Assistance even though I was working.  I never even asked for medical assistance, the Oncologist office applied for it for me.  If it wasn't for that, I'd probably be in jail today, lol  

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Just wondering, did you not have insurance?

@Blingqueen023

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@panda1234I've had FEderal Blue Cross since I was 17 and I'm now 64 and still carry Federal Blue Cross.  I don't have Medicare yet so my patient responsibility would have been in the thousand of dollars.  Without the medical assistance that the office applied for me and the donations from the Lymphoma Society I would have made payments for the rest of my born days.   I'm forever grateful that this Oncology Office thought of applying for medical assistance for me.  After what Federal Blue Cross paid, the medical assistance and the donations paid the balance.  The chemo cost me nothing.  

By the way if you're wondering how I'm doing  The chemo took away the Lymphoma  I'm very grateful and happy about that  I'm doing very well.  Thanks for asking. 

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@Blingqueen023  We have Federal Blue Cross also.  I had surgery for thyroid cancer in May, plus all of the associated tests.  I thought the bills would never stop coming in.  But, there is a $5000 yearly cap.  Once I hit $5000, the insurance pays for everything until the end of the year.  Does that not apply to cancer treatments?

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@onlyshopsonline that applies to any medical treatments.  Once you met your catastroophic, all medical expenses including surgery and prescrption drugs are free.  I was lucky enough to have met it in January so the whole year was free for me.  Like you, I was getting bills earlier from doctors I never even heard of.  I just had a d&c and that was free.  I'm hoping to get the port removed out of me from the chemo before the end of the year so I don't have to get any bills.   I sure hope you're doing ok now from your thyroid cancer.  I wish you the best of health and happiness that it never returns and that you're on the way to good health!!!

[onlyshopsonline]

@Blingqueen023  Thank you!  I'm ok.  I was hypothyroid before the surgery, but having a hard time now getting the proper doses of thyroid meds.  What was working for me before stopped working.  I switched to Armour Thyroid a few days ago.  Time will tell, I guess.  I'm so exhausted I can barely function.  But, it could have been much worse.

My best wishes for your continued healing and good health!