Unlucky to Have Health Insurance?

There are so many trials going on, not only "official" clinical trials but also non-label utilization of drugs that individual physcians are using to try and find ways to kill the beast. And to that, from what I have been reading, there are many possibilities out there that one can legally utilize for pca but becuase the utilization is non-label, medicare and private insurers will not cover the cost (even though the cost of many of these drugs is far less than something like taxotere).

 While we are never really unlucky to have health insurance, our insurers are not our friends because they never can really see the forest from the trees. Those of us who may be in terminal stages of cancer either have to pay out of pocket for non-label drug therapies, use the labeled therapies, which may not be truly in our best interest or just face the last days taking pain relief medication.

 This is not fair but than again, neither is our disease fair. Please support national healthcare by flooding your US representatives with letters or e-mails, especially if they are Republican!

I would hardly consider myself unlucky to have health insurance. My husband would not be alive without it. There is no way we could have afforded the 500,000-1,000,000 they have spent treating him over the past 3-1/2 years. We pursue alternatives on our own and have no desire for clinicals. We use tong ren which is on a donation basis and have had good results (know a bunch of prostate patients whose PSA's have dropped way down with no treatment beyond tong ren-that has not been our choice with a cancer as aggressive as esophageal is).

Medicare covers clinicals in some states but the rules vary state to state. We live in MA and they cover them, but they do not in PA where our oncologist is. We also cannot have a PET in PA unless he has been out of chemo two weeks, but that is not he case in MA. Many clinicals are covered because they cover the standard part of the treatment and the part of the treatment which is in trial is provided by the makers at no cost. Doesn't make sense to cover the trial part since they are generally blind studies where only some of the patients receive the new treatment and the rest don't. Why pay for something you aren't getting. Generally, the trial drugs are randomly assigned and no one knows who is getting it and who isn't.

We have tried some of the alternatives like Xango mangosteen and NCD Xeolite, and although we had some results, they were not a cancer cure as some people claim. Alternatives can be great, but I still believe they are best when used as a complement to other treatments. I might feel differently if we were battling a different cancer. Esophageal is rarely beatable, while prostate will get just about any man alive if he lives to be old enough, but it generally progresses very slowly.

There is no way I would ever support national health care.  They have that overseas and you wait months to even see a doctor, and then there is no guarantee the doctor is any good.  They have the right to withhold meds because of cost also.  And they approve treatments and medications based on dollars, not the best interest of the patient.

The government has no right to control how I am treated in a personal situation such as my health.  That's my business.  You also have a privacy issue with your medical records.  Heaven only knows who they would provide access to or when they would show up on the internet like all the veterans records did due to poor security.

Absolutely NO to national health care! 

Before you pray for national health care, be careful what you wish for. I hear the horror stories from Canada and other countries how you wait for diagnostic tests and treatments and how they ration out the treatments. In Canada they decide if you are worthy for treatment . Do you really want the government to decide what treatment and when or if you will get any?  It all comes down to supply and demand, when you add 50 million people to the supply side with the same number of doctors and hospitals there will be a waiting list for care and treatment. As imperfect as the system is, it is still better than national health care.

Dan

We are at a juncture where our health costs are significantly influenced because EVERYONE gets health care but not everyone pays. Our hospitals are going bankrupt because the system cannot handle both the number of uninisured and underinsured. Fact is, as each day goes by, more and more employers are nixing their plans leaving their employees without any fallback except 18 months of COBRA.The system as we know it won't be around in 5-7 more years unless it is fixed.

I am optimistic that whatever they come up with will incorporate the best of the Canadian and European plans and address the issues that universal health care has posed in other nations. 

Joe

Joe,

  Those 50 million really don't use the system. they will go to the hopital for emergencies only, if they have to be admitted they will admit them. However as far as regular exams and treatments they don't utilize the system. Also if you need cancer treatment and you don't have insurance or the funds, they don't get treated. Once you add those numbers to the exisiting numbers you will have waiting lists for hospital stays and diagnostic tests. You will wait longer to see doctors at their offices.. I wish I was as optimistic as you, but I beleive the government can't run a business, let alone health care.

Dan

Dan,

 You would be surprised how many uninsured DO use the system. There is that thing about signing your name as being responsible for making payments (such payments are rarely ever made). Then there is "charity" cases. And then there are another 50 million who cannot meet the deductibles/ copayments or therapies that the insurance carriers do not pay. I read that a significant percentage of bankruptcies list medical bills as a significant contributor. Ya gotta open your mind to this; health care reform will only succeed if the input into the creation of a new system has many contributors and many compromises.

Dan,

Do you think it's ethically acceptable to allow even one of the 50 million uninsured who are unlucky enough to be diagnosed with cancer to just die simply because they can't afford health insurance?  What if one of those people were you, through no fault of your own?  Or one of your children?  

Somehow, I believe that a country that can put a man on the moon, send manned rockets into space to repair the Hubble telescope, cure diseases, build computers, paint achingly beautiful art, write music that moves my soul and accomplish any of the thousands of other simply amazing feats of which we Americans have shown ourselves to be capable, can also build a National Health Insurance that will serve us all well.  Yes, we will all have to give a bit and compromise, but I have faith in Americans.  We elected President Obama, didn't we, just when we need him the most.  He is a brilliant, caring man who has the ability to unite this country as no one has since President Kennedy.  

Think about it.

Joan L 

In Australia I have MBF top cover our employer dos not have to pay for our insurance we have to pay for it our selves, mine cost me $150.00 per fortnight. But if the treatment dos not have a Medicare number my insurance won’t pay for the treatment. A while a go I wanted to have the HIFU done it was $20,000.00 My insurance  would not pay for it so because it did not have a Medicare number So I could not get it done and  on an other note my insurance wont pay for the treatments it called out of pocket expanses that can cost between half to one quarter of the doctors fee for the treatment, some times the cost is sheared between Medicare and our insurance,  So if I wanted an RP done my doctor says the cost is $20,000 my insurance top cover if I’m lucky would only pay for three quarters of it. but Medicare will most time covers the hospital expenses But I have to come up with the rest out of pocket if I’m lucky say $3,000.00 every since I had cancer because I’m classed as an invalid pensioner and cant work, because I still have  Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) (Its an illness characterized by exhaustion and many other symptoms that I wont go in to right now )

 Medicare in Australia has a thing called the scheduled fee  if a GP charges  $75.00 for a consultation . Medicare scheduled fee,  for that GP consultation might be only $35.00 so you can only clam back $35.00, So you out of pocket $40.00, but most times the GP will only charge the Medicare  scheduled fee after the GP consultation all you have to do is sign a  Medicare form and when the GP gets enough sign patients Medicare forms he bulk bills Medicare and get paid back by Medicare, most of all the test I had Medicare paid for the lot so I’m paying out $300.00 a month for medical insurance I don’t even use. Any way take care all the best Ray   

Ray,

The reimbursements are really not that much different here but the costs of both healthcare and insurance are much higher in the US. An individual policy that has 80% coverage costs for a middle-aged man between $4,000-$15,000 per year depending on the state you live in. The higher amount is in states that REQUIRE insurers to cover all applicants, regardless of pre-existing conditions. For a family multipy those amounts by about 2.5.

 Joe