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Same exact thing happened to my sister. Tell her to rush to apply for Social Security Disability. With the diagnosis she will be approved and put on Medicare who will pay for surgery and/or chemo. My sister applied in August and received the first check/benefits in October so it didn't take that long.
I can't answer about owning the land, but my sister still had various Roth IRA accounts and investments and was approved anyway.
Good luck to your friend.
Excellent advice! I understand they speed up the process if the diagnosis is life-threatening!
if it was that easy to just grab insurance if you got sick none of us would bother having it .
you basically have to be impoverished for medicaid to pick you up .
but depending on income she could have possibly had a subsidized aca plan . but she blew that by going without insurance and now january is the earliest she can get put on .
I have a friend who just found out that she has ovarian cancer. She has no insurance (I won't get into it, but completely her fault). She owns 15 acres of land with a home on it. Can the hospital take that away from her to pay for medical bills? She is wanting to put the land in her daughter's name to protect it. Is that even an option? Disclaimer: I do not necessarily agree with her tactics. I think she was extremely careless in deciding to retire early and go without health insurance.
They may be able to put a lien on her property for unpaid medical bills.
Excellent advice! I understand they speed up the process if the diagnosis is life-threatening!
you still do not get medicaid without being impoverished even if you get the ssdi . you can't get medicare either under 65 without a 2 year waiting period once you are on ssdi . there are very specific exceptions and cancer is not one of them .
all in all i don't think the comment about them speeding up the process if it is life threatening means much unless you qualify for medicaid . you are on the YOYO PLAN . you are on your own in that case if you are not impoverished enough for medicaid .
that is the part that makes no sense. why does she not have an aca plan .
Probably because she would have to pay for it
I know people like that, they seem to have every luxury, sports cars, designer clothes, expensive vacations, but never put aside a penny for the "rainy days" that will happen. We're supposed to feel in awe of their display of wealth, then we're supposed to feel pity when their luck runs out. Well, guess I've run short on "feelings".
Oh, TW, my dh was dx with cancer last year. My first thought was "Thank God we have insurance"! Its simply not something one can be without in today's world. He's receiving the world's best care at MD Anderson, and right now is cancer-free! We still don't have that sports car, but......hey
Last edited by MaryleeII; 09-02-2016 at 07:10 PM..
I think she should sign up for Obama Care. I think it cover preexisting conditions.
She should put 14 acres up for sale. and use it to pay her bills. Maybe her daughter is financial well off and elects to help.
I am not interested in paying her bills as a tax payer if she had the ability to have insurance and chose the spend the money on vacations etc.
I don't think we should expect the hospital to work for nothing when the rest of us do not.
They can't work for nothing, they also have bills and creditors who expect to be paid.
I think some on here aren't aware that a lot of people some where in the middle do not qualify for any low cost Obama care. I'm one of them. I actually got a letter in the mail when it all started that said that because of the affordable health care act my premiums were going to increase. In those words. There are plenty of us that had to start paying quite a bit more to pay for so many more getting low cost or free. Being a cancer survivor I wouldn't go without insurance unless it got raised so high I absolutely couldn't pay it. Unfortunately I see my premiums go up every year with a bit less coverage. So, how many are like me? Not rich enough to have the cost be of little concern, not poor enough to get any kind of subsidy. If it keeps going up what then?
I think some on here aren't aware that a lot of people some where in the middle do not qualify for any low cost Obama care. I'm one of them. I actually got a letter in the mail when it all started that said that because of the affordable health care act my premiums were going to increase. In those words. There are plenty of us that had to start paying quite a bit more to pay for so many more getting low cost or free. Being a cancer survivor I wouldn't go without insurance unless it got raised so high I absolutely couldn't pay it. Unfortunately I see my premiums go up every year with a bit less coverage. So, how many are like me? Not rich enough to have the cost be of little concern, not poor enough to get any kind of subsidy. If it keeps going up what then?
Many of those had policy's that were so spartan prior that if anything serious happened they could be in big trouble.
My daughter had a cheap plan like that prior. Everything had low limits and caps. It was fine as long as you were healthy and didn' t need much coverage.
They may be able to put a lien on her property for unpaid medical bills.
My friend's husband developed something in line with Alzheimer's, which progressed quickly and once she couldn't keep him at home, he went into the nursing home and Medicaid paid. Medicaid now has a lien on the house and when she sells it, they will collect at that time. She told me "I don't mind. It's the right thing." She is a very good woman and isn't looking to cheat the system. I have great respect for her.
I have read about the asset transfer and what I read was they look back 5 years for "suspicious" activity. I think that is fair also. Why should the taxpayers end up subsidizing the healthcare of someone so the children can have an "inheritance". There was nothing left when my parents died to "inherit", but also no bills to pay.
So, I gathered that her income is high enough that she can't get Medicaid, which means she should have been able to afford some sort of policy. That when you are getting SS you can't move to SSDI and SSDI would start if one qualified when they became too disabled to "work", when it affected their ability to work.
The only avenue I see is talking with the Cancer Support Groups to get some idea of how there might be some help from private sources. Hospitals can be sometimes negotiated with and will accept payments.
For those suggesting SSDI, keep in mind that cancer is not an automatic qualification. I had to work full time against doctor's orders during my own cancer treatment (thankfully with a lot of help and work modifications - including napping on my boss's floor) and was denied SSDI. I also have a good friend who had major abdominal surgery for colon cancer on top of chemo at a mere 22 years old and was denied SSDI. Those who *have* gotten it have had to fight for upwards of a year.
This is why the OP's friend should have gotten insurance. Of course the OP's friend is "running into brick walls" - she's not hearing what she wants to hear which is anything other than "spend down your assets." If she were to pass, her property would likely go toward unpaid medical bills. If I had not had insurance, my cancer would have cost $500,000 for 6 months of chemo and no major surgery. In many areas of the country, even 12 acres of land and a house wouldn't pay that off. I hope she didn't decide life insurance was "too expensive" as well.
Unfortunately, had she cared about her daughter's inheritance, she would have protected both of them with insurance. You're only healthy until you're not and if you're old enough to be able to retire early then you certainly need to be insured. I was only 23 when I got my stage IV cancer diagnosis. And I'd be gobsmacked if I met another one going through that journey who expected my tax dollars to pay for them so their children can get an inheritance.
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