Does anyione have Crohns or Ulcerative Colitis? Paying the medical bills.

[Virgie60]

Hi! Does anyone on this board have crohns disease or ulcerative colitis? My son does and it is taking a financial toll on us. We do have insurance but is there anything else I can do to make paying for the medical bills easier? He has had 3 colonoscopies within 1 year plus weekly blood tests, etc. Insurance only pays for so much. Please Help!!
Thanks.

[canadian gardener]

bumping this up so the american ladies can help.

I'm a Canadian.

[canadian gardener]

bumping again for the American ladies. Anybody with ideas on how she can find some help sorting out medical costs?

[SewCrafty]

Gosh Virgie, I've been looking on the net and come up with no financial aid. How old is your son?

[Virgie60]

Hi! My son is 16. Are you from the states? Because my son is now driving and if they are on the B Honor Roll or better they can get a discount on insurance. Well with all the school my son missed he is lucky he is even passing let alone gets B's. Do you think if I talked to the insurance company about that they could do something to get us that discount? I mean any little bit of help we could get. This disease is costly in more ways than one. You've got the obvious - meds, tests, Dr.s, etc. And then you got driving back & forth to school because he couldn't ride the bus with urgent diarreha, driving to drs. 150 miles away, eating out costs because it takes all day at the Dr. Well I hate to complain but you get the picture. So any help you can give me would be appreciated. Thanks

[Valerie in WA]

Virgie, I feel for you. My daughter doesn't have Crohn's, but has OCD. Have you ever looked at what insurance pays for mental health? It's usually 50%. It sucks. I paid over $2000 last year in out-of-pocket expenses to just ONE doctor.

Financially, I have a couple of suggestions:

1. See if he could qualify for SSI (social security disability). If he can't ride a school bus, he probably can't hold a job either. (I do understand, BTW, I used to be a peds nurse.) I don't know what it would take to qualify him, but it'd be worth looking into.

2. See if you have a Medical Spending Account or a Flexible Spending Account through your (or dh's) employer. It doesn't pay the bills, but it does let you pay them with PRE-tax dollars. Depending on your income bracket, that's about a 10-15% savings.

3. I'm sure you've already looked for doctors closer to home, but a good specialist is hard to find. Does your ds have to drive long distances for blood tests too? I would think that he could have blood drawn at a local doctor's office & the results faxed to his specialist. That would cut down on gas and time. Also, have your ds drive the vehicle that gets the best mileage.

4. When gone all day to appointments, take a cooler and bring lunch. It's WAY cheaper than buying.

5. And, lastly, just look for other areas to tighten up. There's not much else you can do.

HTH!

[Virgie60]

Thanks for the reply. Luckily my son does get his blood tests at local (only 7 miles away) c;inic and they do fax the results. So that does help. Even though he was dx a year ago I still feel shell shocked some days. And he has gone through so much that costs big money - 3 colonoscopies, endoscopy, & CT scan in the last year. The blood tests he has done cost $700.00 a time. We do have insurance and my dh does have the flexible spending plan account at work so that helps too. I feel for you with your medical bills too. It is a pain isn't it. Literally

Thanks again. Take Care.

[SewCrafty]

I was thinking the same thing as Valerie. See about getting your son disability through SSI, I'm betting he qualifies.

Also about the deduction for car insurance. If your son took a drivers ed course in school or with a driving school I know you qualify for a lower rate. Call your insurance company and see what they need for you to get a lower rate for your son. You may only have to fax them a copy of his last report card.

Good luck, I too know about astronomical medical bills and they aren't fun.