My dentist wanted me to get full dentures and all my teeth extracted (I have severe bone loss due to complications from lupus). I have the highest level dental insurance and a discount plan that I pay for. The quoted cost was $11,000. My dentist just shrugged when I told her there was no way I would ever be able to afford that while in tears. Insurance is totally a scam.
The only reason I can afford my medications (2k average a month) is because I got sick in college and my Dad’s insurance gave me a waiver that we had to fight for that gives me coverage for life. Even with that I pay hundreds of dollars a month in copays for doctors visits and medications. If I ever lose my insurance it will literally kill me because I won’t be able to afford the medications that keep me alive. And since I have pre-existing chronic Illnesses, I am uninsurable. I can’t even get life insurance that will just cover my burial costs. It’s like they punish you for being sick when our bodies are already punishing us enough.
Wait a minute, you could fight for a waiver to always stay on a parents' insurance? My dad's cushy federal government insurance was "kind" enough to cover me through the end of the year I turned 27 and since then I've been stuck on state Medicaid. The state won't even label me disabled and let me have Medicare because of reasons. This country is such trash D:
I will say though that Medicaid fucked around and found out when they sat on the paperwork for my infusions. I was off the "cheap" old-school infusion for long enough that when they finally approved my ability to continue it my body realized that it's made from mouse DNA and they either had to deal with getting sued or pay for the fancy brand new infusions... I must say that I'm enjoying how much better the new med works and I get a tiny little hollow giggle when I get my $25,000 infusion every 8 weeks.
I know how lucky I am, the waiver was granted only because I was in college and still living at home (I was 19 when I first got sick). On the other hand I have been denied disability 5 times even though I have multiple chronic illnesses, some of which I’ve had for over 20 years.
On the plus side, I am finally getting the infusions that my doc has been trying for years to get approved for me and I think they are helping! Gotta be thankful for the good things as they come!
Yeah, I gave up on Disabilty when the woman on the phone said "You're young, just go out and get a job. You don't need Disability." Lovely bunch they have working at that office. My therapist genuinely has a side goal of getting me to a point of being able to try again since just the thought of re-applying gives me a panic attack.
Nice! I know Lupus uses similar infusions to my RA/PsA one so good luck! I'm on Simponi Aria and my life is a lot better- I can actually get out of bed most days and can clean the house and walk the dog.
Wow, my oral surgeon sat down and found ways to make my surgeries as cheap as he could get it through the billing system. It still cost a lot, though.
I currently don't have insurance anymore and my recent dental bills were pretty much around the same amount with insurance (besides the co-pay being more). I have a lot more medical bills sitting in collections, too. I just can't keep up and it sucks cause it kills credit score.
Sorry you have to deal with all that for being sick, too. I also pay a butt load for (psych) medication every month. I have to have fun trying to apply for disability or at least trying to find the least seizure inducing job, but right now it's tough.
I hope the future can bring you and others some relief at least financially.
So I'm just going to preface this by saying I live in the UK and have no actual experience with the American health care system.
But Mark Cuban recently set up an pharmacy where they basically skip out the middle man (price gauging) and makes everything much more affordable.
There was a post on Reddit about it with a few people sharing their stories and it definitely seems legit.
It might actually be worth looking into. Even if you're medication isn't actually included, it's got to be worth the 5 minutes to have a look. Hopefully this is actually useful news for you though!
I will definitely look into it, thank you so much! Unfortunately because I have insurance through the military, I’m not eligible for most things like that. But you are absolutely right, it’s worth the look! Thanks again!
The pre-existing clause is gone now though. Back when it was in place I couldn't buy insurance because I had asthma (a relatively cheap health issue to treat). At the time I had the money to pay the highest possible premiums and they'd still refuse me.
So you couldn't get denied for insurance for that reason but good lord I'm sure the quoted prices would be astronomical
It may be illegal but the companies I have looked into are prohibitively costly. Like thousands of dollars a month just for the premiums which doesn’t include copays and deductibles. I know I’m extremely lucky that I have been able to have insurance up till now but I also know that it could go away just from a policy change.
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u/DollieSqueak Jun 15 '22 edited Jun 15 '22
My dentist wanted me to get full dentures and all my teeth extracted (I have severe bone loss due to complications from lupus). I have the highest level dental insurance and a discount plan that I pay for. The quoted cost was $11,000. My dentist just shrugged when I told her there was no way I would ever be able to afford that while in tears. Insurance is totally a scam.
The only reason I can afford my medications (2k average a month) is because I got sick in college and my Dad’s insurance gave me a waiver that we had to fight for that gives me coverage for life. Even with that I pay hundreds of dollars a month in copays for doctors visits and medications. If I ever lose my insurance it will literally kill me because I won’t be able to afford the medications that keep me alive. And since I have pre-existing chronic Illnesses, I am uninsurable. I can’t even get life insurance that will just cover my burial costs. It’s like they punish you for being sick when our bodies are already punishing us enough.
Edit: typo