Well, this might be positive...

[HouseOfDialysis]

I got an email from my prospective donor that the transplant center has declared him a "match" and are looking at the first month of summer break(he's a teacher in Michigan) to do the surgery.

So, roughly, in eight months, I could be having a transplant.

Now, there is much work to be done with fundraising for the immunosuppresants, paying down my medical debt as is, and saving for when I'm out of work for recovery.


Now, the insurance I have has been great to date with picking up costs for labs, dialysis, etc. I'm calling my case worker tomorrow about what the anti-rejection drugs will run through my insurance, both private and Medicare. Also, what are reimbursable costs for my donor, such as flying him back and forth, and whatnot. As well as contacting my HR rep about the short-term/long-term disability policy and my various loans with disability protection as well. Since, I won't be working for at least six weeks....

Anyone have any insight to share on any of this?

[willowtreewren]

Woot~

This is fabulous news, and you have time to plan!

 

Aleta

[Jean]

Great News!!! Congrats and I hope all works out as scheduled for you.

[Poppylicious]

Being lucky enough to live in the UK I can offer absolutely no insight into your financial questions, but I do want to say a BIG

WOOHOO!

in honour of the living donation.   

I am so VERY excited on your behalf!

 

[jbeany]

If you have Medicare and gap coverage, you should have next to no costs for the first 3 years.  All I've had to deal with are random co-pays for antibiotics and painkillers.  (And some special order bandages, but I'm hopeful you don't end up with open wounds like I did!)  The immunos are billed directly through Part B, so there's not even a co-pay on them.   I used the transplant center's specialty pharmacy.  Lots of regular pharmacies have little experience with Part B billings, and then you have to sort out the mess.

With my complications, I ran up half a million in bills in the first 2 months, and didn't owe a dime.

No live donor here, so no idea on the rest of it.

[Deanne]

Congratulations!

I got a packet from my insurance company with confirmation of my transplant coverage. It goes over which costs they'll cover, including donor travel costs. I've also been getting calls from them since I went on the list (just one month ago) to follow up on making sure I have everything I need in terms of care. I have Anthem BCBS.

[Willis]

I've just started down the transplant road so don't know much yet. But after talking with the financial counselor I found out that as a veteran the VA will pay for all of my meds even if they don't do the actual transplant. Also, I can get cross-listed with the VA's transplant list. Only drawback to that is all VA transplants are done in Nashville, TN which is about 500 miles away. Might be worth getting multi-listed though!