How do you afford dialysis???

[jonn r]

so here is a question for you all....i am going away for a week in july and they tell me that my mainecare will not cover out of state and i will have to pay the 20%....so how much should that be around? plz help if you can

[Bill Peckham]

so here is a question for you all....i am going away for a week in july and they tell me that my mainecare will not cover out of state and i will have to pay the 20%....so how much should that be around? plz help if you can

The Medicare composite rate (what you're paying 20% of) is case mix adjusted, and there is a geographic wage adjustment but the range should be $26 to $34 if you're an average guy, going to an average city.

[thegrammalady]

i have to pay the 20% when i visit my family in oregon. the last bill i received from the hospital there was $64 for two treatments.

[Ang]

down  here in  australia,we  recieve  dialysis  free,medications  for  pensioners  are  $5  per   item,but  you  do  pay  a  medicare  levy  in  your  taxes.

[Chicken Little]

I'm very fortunate in that my former employer is paying $900 a month for my COBRA coverage.  I have no copays for anything dialysis related, including prescriptions, under this coverage. 

I hope to be transplanted by the time my COBRA eligibility expires.  If not, my Hubby will have to go back to a job with benefits.

[Black]

We have not been able to get insurance for many, many years but dialysis is not costing us anything.  Mike started dialysis training for home dialysis on his first day of dialysis so the three month waiting time was waived.  We went to a "not for profit" clinic so they accept what Medicare pays as payment in full.

Our costs were/are associated with the fact that the only clinic with NxStage in South Carolina is 200 miles away.  We stayed in our camper in a campground for the three week training time and Mike has to drive there once a month to take his blood samples, get his check up, turn in his "flow sheets" and pick up supplies.

He was getting his BP meds free from his neph and through drug company programs, but now he is covered by Medicare so he now has to pay the co-pays.

BUT, the biggest expenses were in the two years before he started dialysis, especially those associated with getting his fistula and the frequent neph appointments.

In the US the cheapest way to go is to wait until your kidneys fail, have "emergency" placement of a catheter, get the fistula done ASAP, and start home training before the three month period is over.  That way Medicare "back dates" and covers all of the expenses.

[st789]

I think we have many members here filed for bankcruptcy because of kidney failure.  Let just hope, one of us here win the super lotto.

[jonn r]

just tell them you can pay them with a kidney if they want .......sorry i had to say that

[keefer51]

When i moved back to Pennsylvania from Nashville Tennessee i had two heart attacks. I didn't have a job yet so i had no insurance. On my first attack they Told me my kidney had failed again. I asked what my creatine was it was 3.4. I told them that since i was on before i would wait. I did not anything about medicare. When i received my transplant i was working at Prudential Insurance. They paid for everything. So when i moved back with out insurance i was concerned about what would happen. I received meds i needed from the docs. free samples. The collection calls came in. For months they called. Months turned to a year. The cost went up to 157,000$. I stayed off dialysis. It took 6 months to get medicare B. I was already on Medicare A because of ESRD. Unfortunately a human being can take only so many calls. So i went bankrupt. I lost what i had. But at least i am alive. I didn't know i was covered under the medicare A. I was told all renal patients are covered under that automatically. Now i collect s.s. I pay 90$ for medicare B. I also pay 228$ a month for bluecross a supplemental insurance. I also pay 68$ for medicare D that covers meds. The only bills i received were from my fistula doc. and my neph. docs. That was only 60$ ea. This past year was very quiet no calls. No more threats. Just dialysis and the wait for a new kidney.

[pierrat]

 I guess in some ways im lucky and then not in others. I worked construction prior and I didnt report my income. So when I was put on dialysis I was unable to get medicare because I didnt have enough work credits. Unfortunently Medicare is what im being told is what will pay for any transplant surgeries so without medicare I cant even be put on a transplant list.

The way that im lucky is I am on medicaid, and the way its working out for me so far, is All my dialysis treatments are paid for, including doctors apt, prescriptions and even additional care for my rheumatoid arthritis.

So all in all, I guess I cant complain as noones hounding me for money... but I sure would like to be on a transplant list too.

[st789]

Being sick and get call from collection is suck.

So Pierrat, if they do not put you on the list, then will you ever get a chance for kidney transplant?  Your story sounds very strange!

Which state are you currently reside?

[okarol]

I'm very fortunate in that my former employer is paying $900 a month for my COBRA coverage.  I have no copays for anything dialysis related, including prescriptions, under this coverage. 

I hope to be transplanted by the time my COBRA eligibility expires.  If not, my Hubby will have to go back to a job with benefits.

When my husband's Cobra was due to expire he was eligible for an 11 month Cobra extension as long as he had been approved for disability with Social Security Dept. Since the disability didn't kick in before the Cobra expired, he then became eligible for the HIPPA health insurance offered - which we now have through Blue Shield. I believe each state is required by the federal government to provide health insurance coverage to those people whose Cobra will expire, but it isn't cheap!

[pdpatty]

I qualified for Medicare back in `94 ,long before my kidney failure. I did not have a supplimental at the time ,but around 1997 we purchased a supplimental policy.Back then ,companies would sell one to disabled persons under 62. Even though it costs us $178.00 each month above my medicare payments it has saved us a lot of very large copays.  I don't get a bill for anything,my hospital bill of over $22,000 was covered. My doctor bills are covered as my pd supplies and my clinic visits and all lab work. I pay nothing.
If you have medicare ,a medicare suppliment is a must.
With the new drug plan,I pay $7 or less(generic) or $30( for name brand on list) or $60 for special drugs(like Fosrenol and Zemplar)
So ,I guess you could say I am making out like a bandit.

[st789]

Did someone say bandit?  The cost of health care in U.S is outrageous.  Bless you for having Medicare Supp.

[Stacy Without An E]

For the first 2 1/2 years of Dilaysis, Blue Shiled was primary and Medicare was secondary.  Every 2-3 months I receive a bill from Medicare because I work full time.  Early in the year it's anyway from $80-$100.  As time goes on throughot the year, the co-pay goes up.  My most recent bill was for $400.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm appreciative of the help Medicare provides in the U.S.  But sometimes I can't pay the bill and it starts to add up.  At one point I was cancelled because I owed over $1400.

Fortunately our social worker is on the ball and actually cares about our emotional and financial well being.  She clued me into the National Kidney Fund that helps patient's with their medical bills associatied with MediCare.  Without that help I would be fighting debt and ruining my credit score.

I'm so grateful when I find good people in the medical industry who actually give a damn.