Had my appt a few weeks ago

[Orangebrittainy]

the Cardiologist says I am getting too symptomatic. Scheduled me another appt in October (went from 1 year appts, to 6 months to 2 months!) and said he was going to make a few phone calls to duke. I have been upset because G and I were secretly hoping everything would go well and we would be in the process of trying to have our second (and last child). We decided though if it came to surgery, I am not going through a second surgery just so I could have a baby. I am mourning the child I never had and probably won't and have just been really closed off for the last 2 weeks. I know though that in the long run I am making the best choice for my family, including the beautiful four year old I have already been blessed with and was told I would not be able to have because of my heart.

Anyways. I am considering requesting a copy of my medical records but its .75 cents a page, and Money is a MAJOR issue for me right now.

On top of this, I got demoted at work. I was a Head Start Asst teacher, and due to some More at Four laws, the Agency running my Head Start had to move staff around. Long story short, I am now a substitute teacher. Which means I am loosing my insurance.

I really don't know what to do now. I can't put off these appointment any more. Lack of insurance is why I skipped four years of appointments. Part of me wishes I would never have went, but I realize that in the long run that would be worse. I don't know how I am going to pay for any of this. :frown2:

 

[kfay]

Brittney, I'm in Charlotte, NC. What city are your cardio's in? I'm just curious if you saw someone from a group in a larger city or someone in a small city, which really means I'm wondering what their level of experience is. I don't see in this post which valve you are having problems with and how long you've known about them. I see that your Dr. mentions calling Duke on your behalf. Do you know if a repair might be an option yet so that you could still have another child with the possiblity of not needing another surgery?

I'm assuming you are married (but may not be), if so, can you get on your husband's insurance if he has any? If not, and you haven't already lost your insurance, it might be worth it to convert it with Cobra for a few months until you can get your surgery done. I realize your head is probably spinning right now with all of this, but you've come to a good place with people who have a lot of experience with this and some good ideas to help you through.


Kim

 

[Lynlw]

I agree with Kim, Get Cobra and that would cover your surgery. We were on Cobra one of Justin's surgeries, Cobra is expensive but it is thousands time less expensive than surgery.
Also Many places charge the patient for their records, but it is free for a doctor. YOu can ask a doctor either you go to, or a friend if you know any, IF you can have your records sent to them and they would give them to you. Thats what we do. Also I don't know if your asked your cardiologist office for a copy of your tests and report, or if you went right to medical records, sometime the doctors office will give you copies for free.

 

[Orangebrittainy]

I have a bicuspid Valve with moderate regurgitation. My aorta is also enlarged. I am seeing a local small town cardiologist, but When I lived in Ohio, I was a patient at the Cleveland Clinic. My husband has VA insurance, but because he was with the Guard we do not qualify.

 

[dick0236]

My husband has VA insurance, but because he was with the Guard we do not qualify.

Are you covered as a dependent on your husbands VA insurance? If so, that insurance should cover most of your cost. If your husbands insurance covers only him, then you should be able to continue your present health insurance thru COBRA.

Usually, most medical providers will give you one set of records at no cost. I am not sure, but I think they have a legal responsibility to provide you with your records. They may charge for additional sets, but you should get one set at no cost.

Good luck, you really don't want to be without insurance.

 

[Orangebrittainy]

We were unable to get covered under his VA insurance.

Also I called my Cardiologist's office, and asked them what it took to get a copy. They are willing to provide one at .75 cents a page.

I am afraid to find out how much the Cobra is going to be.

 

[kfay]

I am afraid to find out how much the Cobra is going to be.

You'll be even more afraid to find out how much the surgery is if you have to pay it out of pocket. Seriously, sign up for cobra tomorrow, then get your surgery taken care of and if you have to, then drop the insurance. You don't want the kind of debt this surgery will leave you in without insurance.

 

[Lynlw]

Are you covered as a dependent on your husbands VA insurance? If so, that insurance should cover most of your cost. If your husbands insurance covers only him, then you should be able to continue your present health insurance thru COBRA.

Usually, most medical providers will give you one set of records at no cost. I am not sure, but I think they have a legal responsibility to provide you with your records. They may charge for additional sets, but you should get one set at no cost.

Good luck, you really don't want to be without insurance.

The law is they have to provide you with your records, but I've never heard of getting one copy for no cost. We've dealth with quite a few hospitals and they all charged for the patient to get a copy.
Most are about 25 cents a page..But they will send them to other doctors for no charge

 

[Lynlw]

We were unable to get covered under his VA insurance.

Also I called my Cardiologist's office, and asked them what it took to get a copy. They are willing to provide one at .75 cents a page.

I am afraid to find out how much the Cobra is going to be.

Since your cardiologist office is so expensive, I would try the Medical Records Office at where you had the test done, Most times we asked it was closer to 25 cents a page, (which still can add up) not 75.
Another thing to try is you could contact your regular doctor, they should get copies of all oyour reports from your cardiologist, maybe they would be willing to make you a copy.

I might be wrong, but I think right now they still MIGHT be giving a discount on the cost of Cobra, but that might be done. it WAS expensive when we had it 5 years ago, it was 1300 a month for our family..BUT the cost of surgery AND all the tests leading up to it are VERY expensive, (Justin's cardiac MRI was over 10,000 just for the test)

When we were paying for COBRA and were pretty sure Justin would be needing surgery, we made sure both his cardiologist and surgeon knew we really needed jUstin to have his cath rather quickly to see if he needed the surgery and then we asked to get surgery ASAP and told the surgeon we were paying for COBRA but didn't know how long we would be able to pay for it, so the sooner the better for surgery.

 

[Rebecca]

My husband and me are now getting cobra health insurance and the government is paying for 65%.
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/2009/ebsa122109.html

Here is the fair price health care blue book.
http://www.healthcarebluebook.com/page_Default.aspx

 

[Orangebrittainy]

OMG 1300, that is more than what our monthly income will be. I am really freaking out right now. I know that is less than what the surgery will be. This is a horrible position for me to be in right now.

 

[kfay]

Where did you get that $1300 figure from? Is that from your own insurance or that other reference on here? Your cobra cost is going to be based off of the contract price your employer pays, so everyone's is different. Also, do you have your whole family on your insurance or just you? If it's your whole family, see if you can get cobra coverage for just you which would be less expensive. You should have received a letter from your employer offering you cobra coverage. I haven't done this in a while, but if I remember correctly, they have so long to send you a letter with your options and you have a certain time frame to accept it. Again, this surgery is going to cost you over $100k, so, even if you have to pay $1300, it's much less than say $125,000!

I know the financial stress of this is not what you want to have to deal with at this point, but unfortunately, I don't think you have any choice. I would also be sure and let your cardio know your financial situation, so that if surgery is needed at this point, you can get on it quickly to help minimize your costs.

 

[Lynlw]

Where did you get that $1300 figure from? Is that from your own insurance or that other reference on here? Your cobra cost is going to be based off of the contract price your employer pays, so everyone's is different. Also, do you have your whole family on your insurance or just you? If it's your whole family, see if you can get cobra coverage for just you which would be less expensive. You should have received a letter from your employer offering you cobra coverage. I haven't done this in a while, but if I remember correctly, they have so long to send you a letter with your options and you have a certain time frame to accept it. Again, this surgery is going to cost you over $100k, so, even if you have to pay $1300, it's much less than say $125,000!

I know the financial stress of this is not what you want to have to deal with at this point, but unfortunately, I don't think you have any choice. I would also be sure and let your cardio know your financial situation, so that if surgery is needed at this point, you can get on it quickly to help minimize your costs.

The 1300 was what WE paid for our whole family. AS Kim said it depends on the insurance you have now and what your employer pays Since your husband is coverred, you would not need to pay for you whole family. AND we had Cobra BEFORE the gov was paying over 1/2 of the Cobra so even OURS that cost us 1300 then (for the whole family) would be closer to 600 now. From people I've talked to , our was pretty high compared to what others paid, and again that was with out any discount that they have now.
I have seen a huge range of what people pay, so really it isn't something you could even try to guess what you would have to pay. You should talk to your employer, they could tell you what they pay for you to have insurance now and what your COBRA payment would be, IF you haven't gotten the letter explaining it yet. No sense getting upset until you know what it will cost you, chances are it will be much less.
IT was very hard to pay for COBRA since at the time, I already was in the middle of a 3 year wait for my SS disability with no income, and my Husband lost his job, so we really didn't have an income, at all until his unemployment started and that barely coverred our mortgage BUT I knew the surgery would be more than we ever could pay off even if we paid the rest of my life, so we made sure to pay that.
Also beside the monthly cost, since you have a heart problem, it is VERY important NOT to let your insurance lapse, as long as you stay coverred, you can't have problems getting new affordable insurance because of having a pre existing condition but you will IF you let it lapse. (until the healthcare reform part about preexisting conditions goes into effect in about 5 years)

 

[Orangebrittainy]

My Coverage ends at the end of the month. I will look into Cobra I should be getting that letter in the next two weeks, I will also look at other plans and see if I can get something going right away. TY

 

[bluefields409]

I cannot imagine the extra stress and the concerns faced by you and many other people when dealing with health coverage. Hoping for a speedy and effective resolution under such trying circusmtances.

~ Blue
As a Canadian, I am humbled and thankful for the blessing of healthcare and coverage available.

 

[Philip B]

Finances

Finances

I'm not surprised that you encountered high costs when you checked on insurance coverage through Cobra. The cost does vary depending upon your employer's insurance. The cost for continuing insurance with my former employer (a school district) via Cobra was really high. If finances are an issue, I can understand why you're feeling so stressed.

As others have stated, facing the necessity and cost of heart surgery without any insurance is bad news. While I had insurance through my school district, but it was pretty lousy. My wife and I seriously discussed putting off my valve replacement surgery because we weren't sure we could deal with the negative financial impacts of paying our share of the costs. By-the-way, our share of those costs came in around $80,000.00 of the $250,000.00 total. Yes, I'm glad we had the coverage we did, but wished our district had better insurance.

Having a discussion about taking chances that a 5.8 cm aortic aneuryism will hold for a few more years because we weren't sure we could afford the surgery was pretty tough. I often tell my wife she would've been off financially if she could've cashed in on my life insurance with the district.

In-the-end, we decided to choose the option which would give me a chance at living. Doctors and hospitals cannot deny people the medical care they need. We figured we would pay what we could, when we could if necessary. Overall, coming up with the money we needed devastated us financially, but I'm still here and while opinions vary, I think that's a good thing.

You may have an option... get the surgery done while you've still got coverage. Sure, you'll undoubtedly have some costs when your insurance coverage expires, but the big costs associated with the surgery will be covered. Consider getting it done right away.

Other members here have opted for tissue valves as a means of continuing plans to have more children.

-Philip

 

[Orangebrittainy]

Getting the surgery pushed would be great but coverage ends in 10 days. I have not gotten to the surgeon yet. We looked at our income and I may qualify for Medicaid, I hate having to ask for help, but I will.