Short version. My friend and his wife are self employed. They’re unable to afford insurance at the moment. His wife just had a very bad situation that required a hospital stay. In addition, there are many follow-ups and a potentially worse medical situation on the horizon. The temporary Medicaid she qualified for, has just abruptly stopped before one of the follow-ups. They wouldn’t give them a reason why. That said, they don’t have the money to afford insurance, obviously don’t have the money to pay the full prices. Are there any options for people in this situation? He is worried that he will lose his wife as her condition seems to be getting more and more serious and the bills will get more and more out of control. Any suggestions or direction I can pass along to him would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.
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Drive a school bus and get highly subsidized health insurance. You would be surprised that is the only reason they drive a bus.
Oh that dang white privilege again…(I assume).
No advice, just prayers.
Yes, at most hospitals, they have an application process for financial help and give discounts for those without insurance. At least our large organization does. I'm not sure who to contact but maybe the doctor's office where they've established care.
Most, if not all, hospitals have a social services department and a Patient Ombudsman (ie patient advocate) to assist with the application process for getting patients enrolled in whatever programs will cover some of the bills. Money for the hospital that way. But they usually start targeting you when you show up at the ER with no coverage. The first attempt at getting a 3rd party payor usually starts then.
Weirdly providential that this should come up - just the other day a coworker told me about his wife’s health situation, wherein doctors were trying to figure out a mysterious medical episode she was going through and they wanted to run a battery of different tests that were extremely expensive. Their health insurance balked at the costs and told my coworker that they wouldn’t cover any of it. Fretting about the price (>$15K I think) and trying to negotiate with the Hospital to reduce their costs, a staffer mentioned to him that since their Hospital was a nonprofit, he could request a billing amnesty if their financial condition warranted it. Although my coworker and his wife are quite financially secure, they also have a huge family (think Catholic) with kids in college and others about ready to go and thus are on a very tight budget. They applied for the amnesty and to their surprise it was approved.
Your situation sounds much worse. The key here is whether your friend’s Hospital is non-profit, although for-profit Hospitals have similar forgiveness programs.
Here’s a link that might help explain things: https://dollarfor.org/charity-care/
Good luck, God Bless, and hope this helps.
Might be an option?
https://chministries.org/
Paper divorce and merry a friend with good medical.
I don’t know if this will help with her current condition, but they should join Christian Healthcare Ministries. I am a member. I pay $250 a month, it is not insurance, my monthly contribution goes towards other members medical bills. I tore my ACL. Had surgery for repair and meniscus. Submitted my bills to CHM, set up a payment plan with all departments. Total was $36,000 surgery and CHM paid for every penny except for $1000 which I was responsible for. All within 90 days of surgery. They supplement what insurance does not pay too.
There use to be a program, I can't recall the name.... I think it's Community Cares. Have them check their county for other help.
Possibly they could consider one of the Christian bill-sharing schemes. They aren't insurance per se, but they do help cover costs. There are a few, I'd suggest a search. I'm pretty sure one is called Christian healthcare ministries. I'll pray for them.
First get the immediate care; that's something you can't make up for later.
When the bills come in, deal with it then. Talk to the hospital ombudsmen. They, along with everybody else, know that the prices have little actual relation to the cost; unlike everyone else.
There are always options. Worst case, you can pretend it's a stolen identity and that your wife was never there. Better because there's no lying involved, the wife can declare bankruptcy and the husband can separate much of the assets in the meantime. Don't forgo necessary care because of money. Obviously if some care can be avoided, look for alternatives. Follow up care can be found overseas in many cases, often much better and cheaper depending on the services required.
I don't have all the answers, and you obviously left out a bunch of relevant info, but there is always a path forward. In these moments, God often shines through in very unexpected ways with solutions that never seemed possible before. Don't neglect prayer. I'll pray for them both.
I was once told by my insurance brother that you can contact your state Inspector General with your complaint. Just a letter from them to your insurance company should scare the pants off the company because they have the authority to shut down the company during their investigation. Especially the fact that they gave no reason for the denial of coverage.
Why are they trusting the mainstream medical industry and forking over a fortune just for them to make the wife even sicker?
I truly don't understand people like this.