There is a provision in the president’s budget that would extend Medicare secondary payer from 30 months to 60 months. Having read reports of how earlier extensions affected patients and spouses, I am concerned about the effects of this extension on patient’s health insurance and employment. Are you?
I know that Medicare’s reimbursement rate is around $150 more or less a treatment for HD if you get everything from the clinic and may be somewhat more if you get support services from the clinic and equipment and supplies from a supply company. Some insurance companies contract with clinics and discount their bills.
How much does your insurance have to pay vs. what you have to pay?
Do you worry about exhausting your lifetime maximum benefit due to the cost of kidney care?
Have you – or your spouse if your insurance is through a spouse – ever felt (or been told) that the cost of kidney care affected your (or your spouse’s) ability to keep a job, get a new job, advance in a job, etc.?
In my case, as a child…my father was on the edge of loosing his job…putting the whole family in danger…
I had to come on the news to let the locals know about what was hapenning…nobody would step in and help, but once I came in the news we recieved many phone calls, support and people coming to our home offering help… thank you GOD!!!
Dialysis is too costly to have a free life…it costs more than what most of us make from jobs…we can’t have anything, some married couples have to divcorce in order to still keep their house or they will lose it…alot of employers will not give insurance to an already ill person…
It seems that its affecting all of us, not just couples…simply its just too costly and no one wants to foot the bill, and our only option is Medicare…
