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http://www.allmyfaves.com/

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Doctors try to help uninsured with bills

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/02/15/lost.html?sid=101

Doctors try to help uninsured with bills

Job losses leave more embarrassed patients unable to pay, unaware of help available

Sunday, February 15, 2009 6:54 PM

If you've lost your job, chances are you've lost your health insurance.

So what should you do?

Many people ask their doctors for help.

"We've had lots of people, unfortunately, who have undergone the cuts," said Dr. James Barr, a family physician in Dublin. "We never deny anybody care.

"We work with them to pay as you can and when you can."

Barr's practice lets uninsured patients pay the minimum charge for services and arranges payment plans of as low as $5 a month.

He said five to 10 patients a month tell one of the four doctors in the practice that they've lost their jobs and health insurance.

"It's very humiliating for them," Barr said. But "it's a comfort to them to let us help them."

There is COBRA, a federal program that allows workers to continue the former employer's coverage by paying the entire premium. But many people can't afford that.

Kelly Richards said she couldn't afford the $700-a-month premiums when a lending company laid her off in 2007. She said a plan with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield was too expensive as well.

The Upper Arlington resident now works for a builder doing odd jobs and is nervous being uninsured. "I could fall off a ladder or cut a finger," said Richards, 42.

Barr, her primary-care physician, and her gynecologist let her make payments for office visits, and both give her drug samples when they have them.

Dr. Stephen Canowitz, a primary-care physician on the city's East Side, said he tries to help patients save money by seeing them less often and switching their medications from brand names to generics.

Free medication samples, which had always been a way to help people in tough economic times, aren't as plentiful. Pharmaceutical companies also have laid off workers, meaning doctors' offices are getting fewer samples.

Many retail stores offer $4 generic prescription drugs. And several discount drug-card programs are available on the Internet.

At Powell Pediatric Care, doctors charge a lower rate for uninsured patients on a case-by-case basis. They also tell parents about free clinics and direct them to government and private assistance programs.

Shelia Jones, the office manager, said she has helped 10 families sign their children up for the Healthy Start program through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

"I tell parents, 'Don't be embarrassed when this happens; we'll look for other services available for your child,'" Jones said. "They just don't know about any of these services because they've never been in this place before."

The wrong thing to do, experts say, is to go without health insurance.

One illness or injury can cost thousands of dollars and put your home and other assets at risk if you can't pay a hospital bill. And if you go without insurance for more than 63 days, any pre-existing conditions might not be covered when you become insured again.

"If you've had group coverage, you should look at the individual market and see what's available," said Alwyn Cassil, spokeswoman for the Center for Studying Health System Change.

High-deductible plans require upfront costs, she said, but premiums are more affordable and provide a safety net.

What if you lose your health insurance?

As millions lose their jobs, they're also losing health insurance. Here are suggestions to help:

-- Tell your doctors. They might offer a lower rate, let you make payments, get sample medications or switch to generic drugs.

-- Get necessary medical tests before your health insurance runs out.

-- Talk to an insurance broker about pricing an individual health policy even if it's a high-deductible plan. Premiums can be more affordable, and you'll have catastrophic coverage.

-- Check out the many discount drug-card programs on the Internet.

-- Pharmaceutical companies have free drug programs. To learn more, go to www.pparx.org/Intro.php. Prescription Hope, a local group, can help people apply for these drug programs at a cost of $7 a month per prescription. Go to www.prescriptionhope.com or call 1-877-296-4673.

The state's Healthy Start program can insure children who qualify. Call 1-614-466-2100 or go to http://jfs.ohio.gov/OHP/bcps/hshf/index.stm.

Parents of special-needs children can get help from the Patient Access Network Foundation at www.patientaccessnetwork.org/ or by calling 1-866-316-7263

Our Monthly Newsletter - To be Released Soon . . . .

The monthly "Newsletter" is well on it ways to be sent out for February. You will need the Adobe Reader (viewer) to be able to view the newsletter. If you do not have this program already installed on you computer, click on the link below for a free download.

Adobe - Adobe Reader download = http://get.adobe.com/reader/


Each issue will include; Birthday's for the month, a Career Center and a Pet Corner (so feel free to send me pictures and info on your pets). In addition to those areas we will list any births, anniversaries, special occasions, announcements, pictures, etc that is provided by you.


If you have anything that you would like to share with the group each month, please email me the info by the 10th of each month and it will be posted in the following month's newsletter. I am hoping to have the newsletter out via email between the 20th & 25th of each month.


Also any suggestions that you have for he newsletter are greatly appreciated!


Thanks in advance for all the help with this project!

I hope you enjoy as much as Milda and I have enjoyed putting this together. !!!!

Update on Mom after all the doctor appt's

Hi everyone, it's Cathy..

It's been 3 weeks tonight since the stoke and blinding of her left eye....

Sorry for the delay in updates with mom. We have had 2-3 doctor appt a week for the last 2 weeks and I decided to wait till we got thru them all to send an update. Mom is doing as good as she can be for now. Still no change in he vision and she is still not to good on her feet with walking yet. She seems to do okay around the condo but anywhere else is alittle challenging. She had her first trip out today to Walmart (some place other than a doctors office). thank god for shopping carts to hold on to! She made it around the entire store while we waited for some of her prescriptions to be filled. Her blood pressure has been alittle to high off and on the last week. Could be due the stress of all the doctors to see and partly from the carotid surgery too.

Here is the play by play...

The vascular doctor who did the carotid surgery said the incision looked great and was heeling nicely. She is still experiencing dull headaches but may be caused from the overall trauma from the surgery. Should get better over time. He told her she is able to drive based on what they eye doctor feels is best.


The eye doctor said there is bleeding in the left (bad) eye now and was probably caused from the carotid surgery. She went back this past Monday for round 1 of a 2 part laser surgery on the eye. He said the eye will start to regenerate new vessels in the eye which is bad due to no blood flow and what blood it will create is bad blood and can become like a toxin and damage the eye further. he has decided the laser surgery to fix some of the issues was the best route to go. This will not help her to regain any vision in the eye but will help prevent other major issues within the eye. Two trips to him so far and a 3rd scheduled for 3-2-09. He feels she isn't ready to drive at this point. That her surgery site has to be very well healed and she needs to be able to turn her neck all the way and fast if need be before she should attempt to drive a car. At that point she can try drive with someone, not alone on short trips to get use to her new eye sight. This will be away's down the road still. She needs to be able to get out of the car without getting dizzy an able to way more stable before she gets back into the car again.


Went to see the thumb doctor for a follow up from the removal of the glumous tumor under her thumb nail which surgery was exactly a week before the stoke. The tumor was cancerous but he said they did remove all of it. So no further treatment at this time. She will just have to watch for any other signs of them on the other fingers.


Today we went to the family doctor for her normal 3 month follow up and blood work and sugar levels. Should have the results in a couple days. She reviewed her meds and said it is normal for the BP to go either up or down due to the surgery but it is important to get it under control. She will try a few things to get it back down to a normal range over the next week.

Thanks to everyone for all the cards and calls! We laughed.. one day she had received '11' cards! For those of you that know the story behind the '11''s... in mom's world! We came out of one of the doctor appts and it was.. 11:11am, we stopped for lunch and when we got back in the car it was 1:11pm! Scary :)

She has been trying to laid down between 8-9pm nightly to get her strength back. She has been wearing a patch while she watched TV and makes her good eye tired and gives her headaches. She also has been taking an afternoon nap too each day. If you call and she doesn't answer don't panic, leave her a message and she will call you back when she is up again. It is still alittle difficult for her to hold the phone with her neck for long periods of time. She calls me each day when she gets up and before she goes to bed. I give her "well being" phone call checks too every 6-8 hrs :) I have been there 3-4 days out of the week for the last two weeks and she is slowly getting better at her normal daily routines.

I will try to update everyone weekly from this point on with how she is improving and any funny situations we experience! You know mom, no two days are the same.

The prayers have done wonders, keep them going for a speedy recovery :)