No insurance

[Grey Ghost]

My insurance will expire the 1st of March,  Davita had me withdraw from medicare from the beginning so they could milk my cobra ins. for more money.  They told me that medicare would max out the first month and I would have to pay the difference.  Which of course was a lie.  Now they failed to file for the extension of benefits so I just got a notification that I have no more insurance.  I sure can't pay Davita the 40 thousand per month they have been getting from insurance.  What happens now?  Can they kick me out now that I'm broke?  Do I go to the Co. Hospital for indigent care,  Do I just lay down and die?

[livecam]

Dialysis providers want to be paid but they are not known for kicking patients out over insurance issues.  They will likely work with you to find a method of covering you.  You most certainly qualify for Medicaid in your home state.  No one lies down and dies on dialysis for lack of funds.  Don't worry, nothing bad is going to happen.

[scooter26]

They ( the SW and such) will have some explaining to do for allowing you to lose your COBRA - they must help you get your Medicare back and can help you get a Medicare supplement.  You can qualify to have AKF pay the premiums for both.    Don't let them tell you otherwise.  You most certainly can qualify for a PFE to w/o whatever balance you may supposedly owe for the past also.  Please bring this up. 

They will not kick you out of the clinic.

[BigSky]

Never heard of SW or clinics being the ones to file for extensions, that is usually done by the patients themselves.  However they should have let you in on what needed doing far before it came to this point.

If you are on Medicare the bill from Davita will not be anywhere near 40,000.  They can charge whatever they want but since they do accept Medicare they will have to accept Medicares reimbursement rate for dialysis.  Medicare will pay 80% of the amount they approve for the service and then you are responsible for the 20% Medicare doesnt cover.

Find out what if anything can be done to keep your COBRA,  if nothing call SS and get back on Medicare.  From there depending on income you may qualify for Medicaid in your state to pick up the 20% Medicare doesnt pay or you may qualify for programs that will pick up the 20% such as QMB.  Also as someone stated there are Medicare Supplement packages from state to state that will pay the 20%.