Word: cancer
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Half the calls coming into the center deal with paying for treatment, either because lifetime limits on policies are quickly reached - cancer is one of the five most costly medical conditions in the U.S., according to the ACS - or because the patient is struggling to maintain coverage in the face of rising premiums and accumulating co-pay costs. Some, having been forced by illness to stop working, must struggle to keep their employer-sponsored coverage through COBRA rules. Others are looking for access to sometimes pricey state-funded high-risk pools, and 72% of the callers are simply uninsured...
...Wilhite found the call center after a friend suggested she call the Cancer Society as her family's crisis worsened. In March 2007, her daughter Taylor, now 10, received a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia, a fast-growing cancer that not only took a toll on Taylor's body but also quickly consumed the $1 million lifetime health-care benefit the girl had under her father's employer-based coverage. After three chemotherapy treatments, her cancer went into remission, but she suffered multiple side effects, including heart and hip complications, that may dog her for years to come. After state...
...language in insurance policies. Even human-resources personnel may not fully understand all the intricacies of a policy when briefing a new employee. Also, coverage that appears adequate at first glance may fall short - eight annual doctor visits or three radiation courses may initially seem sufficient, but a breast-cancer patient can require many more visits and multiple radiation courses in just a few weeks of treatment...
...level of detail necessary to navigate the system is astounding. For example, each state receives funding under the auspices of the Centers for Disease Control for breast- and cervical-cancer screening, but unless the patient knows exactly which clinic is utilizing those federal funds on a specific day and time, the screening may not be covered by the CDC funds, McCourt says. Specialists can guide patients through that bureaucratic maze and brief them on the right questions to ask and even the right language to use when making an appointment to ensure the screening is covered...
...some 26%, however, there is no help. David Young, 58, a trucker from North Carolina, is one of them. Since a 2007 diagnosis of stage IV kidney cancer, a rare disease, Young is struggling to maintain his employer-based insurance through a COBRA program - his premiums are now $1,332 a month, which consumes most of his Social Security disability benefits of about $1,500 a month, benefits that are too high to qualify for Medicaid. "I will be honest with you," Young says. "I've got a lot of friends who are so good to my family...