{"id":379571,"date":"2013-05-21T02:49:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T02:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/21\/beyond-boston-oklahoma-covering-catastrophic-medical-charges\/"},"modified":"2013-05-21T02:49:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-21T02:49:00","slug":"beyond-boston-oklahoma-covering-catastrophic-medical-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/21\/beyond-boston-oklahoma-covering-catastrophic-medical-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Boston & Oklahoma – Covering Catastrophic Medical Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today, <\/span>Moore, Oklahoma residents face massive death and destruction<\/span><\/a> after a tornado of epic proportions ripped through this southern town.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Nine o\u2019clock counts reflect fifty-seven dead and countless injuries.<\/span><\/div>\n
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In the days following last month\u2019s Boston bombings, people <\/span>began thinking about the victims\u2019 medical bills and about their ability to meet the astronomical fees<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Boston, itself, and individuals alike, raced to raise cash through special events and crowd-funding sites.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Money to help offset expenses incurred by those affected by the atrocity.<\/span><\/div>\n
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And hyper funding sources will surely be popping up to help Oklahomans.<\/span><\/div>\n
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But what about costs that aren\u2019t covered, even with these special funds?<\/span><\/div>\n
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What about those people in other situations\u2014those that don\u2019t make national news\u2014who are faced with insurmountable sums for their care?<\/span><\/div>\n
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In the months following Gavin\u2019s birth and death, the hospital implemented some bizarre law that allowed them to bill us the difference between their cap and what my insurance paid.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I begged and cried and pleaded, \u201cIsn\u2019t there anything you can do to help us? We\u2019ve already paid x-y-z<\/i>out of pocket.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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Our deductibles.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Co-pays.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Embalming.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Casket.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Burial plot.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Burial.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Tombstone.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The billing manager of the For-Profit wasn\u2019t fazed.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I don\u2019t recall how, but Warren and I secured the funds to pay off the bills.<\/span><\/div>\n
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In the next six years, I learned that there are options, and that the hospital could have helped us, if they\u2019d wanted to.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I\u2019ve since been spreading this information as loud and as far as I possibly can.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Care facilities have funds to help those who can\u2019t afford medical care<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
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In the weeks following my six-week stay in a psych ward, the bills started rolling in.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Thousands and thousands of dollars.<\/span><\/div>\n
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And thousands more.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Most of which weren\u2019t covered by my insurance.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Coverage which had long since ceased paying my therapy visits because I\u2019d met my \u201cMaximum Lifetime Benefit\u201d in less than two years.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Thankfully, by that time I\u2019d been asking questions like, \u201cWhat do all those signs that say \u2018You cannot be denied service if you can\u2019t pay\u2019 mean?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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And I\u2019d been told about <\/span>the Hill-Burton Act<\/span><\/a>, a law that protects against treatment discrimination.<\/span><\/div>\n
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If you\u2019re facing a medical catastrophe and financial crisis, consider these resources.<\/span><\/div>\n
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What you need to know to apply for funds<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n
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  1. Every<\/i><\/b> hospital has endowment sources, though they fall under many different names: Community Care Funds, Scholarships. <\/span>Boston\u2019s state funded programs are titled MassHealth and Free Care Programs<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Some hospitals resist referring\/sharing this information with patients. If you experience this withholding, BE PERSISTENT<\/b>. Even though I was armed with this information in a later medical crisis, I received a run-around from the same billing department who\u2019d failed to disclose the options after my son\u2019s death.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. There are strict deadlines for application. Many require that you file within thirty days of the billing date.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. The hospital\u2019s Financial Aid\/Financial Services employees are equipped to provide assistance in completing the required forms.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Some establishments restrict how often you can apply, and some you can only apply once. (at least that was the case when I applied back in 1996.)<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. ASK questions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n
    Additionally, you should always be aware of the charges that doctors and hospitals are charging you.<\/span><\/div>\n
    <\/span><\/div>\n
    I can\u2019t tell you how many times I\u2019ve found billing errors, and how many thousands of dollars our family has saved by being aware.<\/span><\/div>\n
    <\/span><\/div>\n
    Other options to help you manage health care costs<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n
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    1. \n
      Sometimes you can negotiate a bill with a provider<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    2. \n
      Time\u2019s<\/i> Health and Family<\/em> offers these <\/span>Tips <\/span>for Lowering Your Medical Bills<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n
      Share! Share! Share! Pass this along to anyone and everyone.<\/span><\/div>\n
      <\/span><\/div>\n
      And if you have experiences, resources, or other tips for covering catastrophic medical costs, please share them here.<\/span><\/div>\n
      <\/span><\/div>\n
      Hugs and healing, Journeyers\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      Soon\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
      \ufeff<\/div>\n
      \ufeff<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Today, Moore, Oklahoma residents face massive death and destruction after a tornado of epic proportions ripped through this southern town. Nine o\u2019clock counts reflect fifty-seven dead and countless injuries. In the days following last month\u2019s Boston bombings, people began thinking about the victims\u2019 medical bills and about their ability to meet the astronomical fees. Boston, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[849,514,984,394,441,985,986,987,988,989,990],"class_list":["post-379571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-boston-bombings","tag-catastrophic-loss","tag-community-care-funds","tag-health-insurance","tag-healthcare","tag-hill-burton-act","tag-impact","tag-lowering-your-medical-bills","tag-medical-bills","tag-oklahoma-tornado","tag-paying-for-medical-care"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/medical-bill-stethoscope1-5B1-5D.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}