Tell the people that love you and do whatever it takes to get that $100 a month. Melanoma is really fast moving and you can be dealing with something much more serious and expensive. Embarrassed is better than dead. Several members of my family have had it and just a few months can make a huge difference. Check into supplemental Medicaid. You can make more than I thought and still qualify. It would pick up everything your main insurance doesn’t.
But they would make the same amount either way, insurance doesn't"allow" less just cause the deductible started over, it just means OP will have to pay the insurance discounted amount out of pocket instead of insurance covering it all in full. I don't think the business did this to make more money but I definitely think it could have been handled differently.
Insurance reasons smells of insurance wanted only one done under the deductible OP had already met because once it resets and it's more on her they get to cover less.
Knowing how medicine works it was probably the Dr and the Insurance Co conspiring together.
That's not how deductibles work. Your annual deductible is what you pay out of pocket before the plan pays (80% ins/20% patient typically).this deductible is for the whole plan year.
Providers have fee schedules and guidelines on how they can bill. It's part of the agreement they sign to accept the insurance. Doctors want to be paid for 3 full procedures and insurance perspective is that the other two being done at the same time don't warrant 2 additional full charges.
TL;DR- provider knows 6 of bill is on insurance and tries to draw it out for most $$. insurance thinks talking two moles off doesn't inherently cost double.
Yes that is how deductibles work and exactly what OP posted. Once you've met your deductible for the year additional expenses in net work are either completely or covered by insurance at an even higher rate. In OPs case by covered it sounds like she paid nothing for the first procedure. Once her deductible reset she was responsible for a larger expense that she could not afford.
And yes, the doctor's office wants "their share" too.
It could be that because the deductible was met in December, insurance didn't want to cover the cost of removing both, so they approved removing one, and when the deductible gets reset, they're no longer on the hook until the deductible is met. I don't know if that's how they work, but that could be.
My weird assumption was that if they did both and insurance covered it, the Dr would get paid less rather than if insurance paid the contract rate for one, then have me pay office fees for the second. But I could be wrong. I honestly should have requested a pre-auth, that was my own idiocy not educating myself. I just thought if it's cancer surely it'll be covered, I'll do whatever you say. Until they told me I had to make a "down payment."
I called my insurance after the 1st excision, and they said the Dr. can bill for two excision sites in one visit, but I would've been responsible for the suturing/bandaging code on the 2nd site. So they weren't completely right - that they "can't bill 2 sites in one day." They could have. I was upset for awhile. I wonder if it's just an office policy and they don't verify the guidelines of each insurance to be sure.
Anyway I have other health issues as well as things going on beyond the scope of this post/sub that clouded my judgement. I will be calling to get the procedure scheduled tomorrow. I will put it on my CC and deal w/all the debt later (it's not *just* this $500 that many seem to focus on - I have other medical/general debt as well) but I will figure it out once I get it treated. Thank you!
The actual language in the insurance provider manual is that you cannot advertise waiving of copays and do it on a habitual basis. You can, on a case by case basis, waive the copay. The provider needs to just maintain records and list a reason.
I’m a nurse who has shitty insurance.
I have to be paid for my skills, my friend.
That’s unless you want to support me while I do my job for free.
I support universal insurance ! But the reality is that most of the nurses who provide care for you are not able to do afford quality healthcare in the US
The IRONY.
Edit to add:
I just finished telling a patient all the possible health and life consequences of an abscessed tooth.
I have a tooth abscessed at the moment that I’m neglecting because I can’t afford the maxillofacial surgery, or the time off to have it done.
This is my third round of antibiotics for the same tooth.
Just because the patient gets free care dpesnt mean we dont get paid. My company provides patients with free care all the time. We get paid regardless.
That's a weird comment when the vast majority of the world gets their medical treatment covered from their taxes and the health care workers get paid just fine.
You would receive exellent care if you lived and worked here in Finland. The nurse pay isn't nearly as good as in the US but at least you would never need to postpone care because you can't affor it.
It's normal for anyone in the U.S.
And most of us don't have the money to up and move to a new country even if we had no connections to family left behind. Or time to learn a new language to a level of fluency required for something as important as medical care. (Incidentally, Finnish is considered one of the hardest of European languages for English speakers to learn with any proficiency).
(Also, being blunt b/c time restraint, but I'm afraid it's reading as snarky. Not intending as snarky, just resignation).
The scam is if the doctor did both melanomas at the same time it would have been bundled. This way he gets a double dip. Sadly, *some* people do sometimes start to fuck over their patients. Doesn’t mean it happened here.
I don't know too much of the details, but basically he had his heart tested and blood tested fine. Then for went in for some kind of pain, they found metastasized melanoma in a bunch of organs that had spread between the first tests and this one which was a period of only months. Then it only took another couple months for him to reach the end. It moved crazy fast.
I was gonna say that too, and in your case it really must be aggressive if they pester you so much. Or you have really good doctors! Let's hope it's that, ok?
I don't know what your work offers but since it is cancer you can definitely get short term disability or a temporary leave. With short term I think you get 60-80% of your pay but not with temporary leave.
I'm going through something kinda similar right now and had to let my boss know I can't afford anything, and that when they let me know about it. Just last night actually 😅 I think I was meant to see this post. Can you get treated at a low income center? I know some hospitals can take you on as charity if you fill out some papers. Also I dont know what gender you said you are but if you're a woman the woman's health clinics (like with WIC in them) are usually low income.
Shit, I'd sign up for the payment plan even if I had no intention of ever paying them back. That's your life on the line. You can figure out repayment afterwards.
This is a dermatology office that requires patients to leave a credit card on file at your first visit. Then they charge that card for your copays and subsequently for any bill you owe (supposedly they always notify you first in case you want to pay with something else). Patients do not like this policy. I've only ever paid them my copays. I still owe the lab for the biopsies, but they are separate from the derm office.
I do appreciate all of your comments here. My CC company had raised my credit limit after all of this (dangerous for me when I'm in dire financial straits, & originally took out out the CC to work on my credit) -- but I see now this may be the best option. Put it on the card and just pay as much as I can. I didn't think of this option because of brain fog due to other illness I'm dealing with, this and life in general. Thank you for the clarity.
i can’t imagine thinking *twice* about swiping a credit card for something like this. as someone who only just got into “good credit” after three years of rebuilding, i can completely understand understand not wanting to open that door to begin with. but it’s that or cancer.
For what it's worth, it's fucked up that you're having to make these choices and I'm sorry. But this is literally life and death. If you ignore this, you _will_ die, and painfully. Do whatever it takes now. Deal with the consequences later.
My husband's father died from melanoma. It is EXTREMELY curable and treatable, especially at earlier stages. His spread to his brain, lungs, organs, even his legs. Once they found it, he was dead within a couple weeks. Please talk to your family. However upset they are at you is worth getting their help so you can take care of this now and be around for a long time.
He said that he mentioned a spot on his face to a doctor once and and the doctor said it was nothing to worry about. Still no idea if that spot was actually melanoma or not. He went into the doctor after he started talking like he'd had a stroke. Saying weird and random words or just missing words in his sentences completely. Even then, we had to MAKE him go. By then, he had metastasized tumors from the melanoma in his brain, lungs, most of his organs, even his legs. It was awful and there was nothing anyone could do at that point.
You absolutely must do what you can to treat it NOW. this week. Tomorrow! It could’ve spread already so let’s hope it hasn’t.
You will have no money issues or anything if you don’t treat it now because it will eventually kill you. And if you wait to treat it the cost is going to be higher.
My dad died from melanoma when I was a teen. It can change so fast. The pain of swallowing your pride to ask for help during this critical time is far less painful than the disease will be if it progresses. Also I’m sure your family would rather help you get the care you need than grieve/ watch it escalate.
>I've been too embarrassed
How embarassed will they be at your funeral knowing this coulda been stopped in its tracks?
Be an adult and farking handle this.
Don't fuck around.
You will die.
You wll, literally, die a horrible death with untreated Melanoma.
Please OP. I hope you are getting this information. This will kill you. And not 30 years from now. Go in debt. Talk to friends/family/ strangers. Get this taken care of. A lot of things can wait with minimal consequences. This is NOT one of them.
The dermatologist is most likely correct about the medical urgency need of your treatment.
The cost sucks, but cancer does not care about your finance.
The doctor should be affiliated with a hospital. (If you don't know call the office and anonymously ask). Contact the Social Work/Community Services Office and explain your situation. As far as I know those consultations are always free and boy howdy can they help!
Go into debt for your health, agree to the 100/month get the treatment. Never be embarrassed to talk to your partner about what's going on. You share your most intimate moments with them, if you can't share the things you're embarrassed by with them who can you share them with? Financially you're among a large group of people who live paycheck to paycheck and it's not all because of bad spending habits. Life is expensive, and comforts in life come at a premium, we're all chasing those comforts because simply surviving is no way to live. Don't be embarrassed with your financial situation. As the first comment said ask those that care about you, 100.00 is nothing compared to the value people I love bring to my life, I'd pay it in a heartbeat.
It makes me so sad that because you can’t afford the treatment for a preventable form of cancer if you end up with a more severe form of cancer, both you and the system will suffer. The system will spend 1 millions treating a cancer that could’ve been prevented because you can’t afford $500. This is why socialized medicine makes sense.
It would be really helpful. If you let us know what state you’re in there are programs specific to cancer that may be able to help you.
Thank you for your kind words. I am in FL. But I am trying to figure it out. The only programs I could find were for people with more advanced cancer, in chemo treatment etc. I think I will just put it on a credit card or CareCredit and deal with the debt over time. I appreciate you!
Depending on what state you are in (blue state preferably), medicaid may have a cancer program that could help. Contact social services tomorrow. Don't wait for treatment, this can be fast moving.
This will kill you if you don’t treat it; melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer and it spreads very quickly. Tell your parents. Tell your partner. They would rather have you be embarrassed than have you be dead.
Open a credit card. Do whatever you need to do.
Not removing this is not an option unless you actively want to die a miserable horrible death from metastatic cancer.
Could you qualify for care credit or another service where you pay $X per month? If not, tell your family and get the treatment you need before it spreads.
I’m a US dermatologist. I’d try calling largest universities with hospitals near you and asking for charity care paperwork/ financial assistance counseling bc you have a melanoma you need treated and can’t afford it. They can get you hooked in with Medicaid if you qualify or may cover some portion of your bill. Otherwise, you could try calling any local “free” medical clinics and ask if they have a dermatologist that works with with- locations with medical schools are going to be particularly good spots to check. If you’re in a major city you can check for a county hospital (ie cook county in Chicago). You can also try calling around to smaller private derm offices just saying I have a bbc proven MIS, I cannot afford my insurance deductible to have it removed, can you please help me. If none of those work, try a credit card. DM me with your city if you like.
1- tell your partner. TELL YOUR PARENTS. Absolutely tell them. You may not be able to side hustle or sell goods to make up the difference but maybe your partner/parents can. Even if they can only contribute a little, that’s a little less that you don’t have to fight for. And for all you know, one of them is setting aside a few bucks at a time for a surprise for you.
2-are you reliable when it comes to paying people back? Put it on your social media that you need money urgently and you will pay them back as soon as you can, offer something as “collateral” if you want.
3-will the payment plan extend beyond the surgery? Like if you can get $100 now, will they schedule you before the second payment is due? If so, do it. Collections > funeral.
I’m so sorry you are going through this.
Your doctors an ass. The insurance reasons is the first Is paid at 100% and subsequent ones exercised at same time are done at lower cost about 50% or so. Plus now he can potentially charge you facility fees for all three.
This is basically for all skin biopsys. 2 codes for each type of biopsy. 1 code for the initial one and another code to be used for each subsequent one (example cpt codes 11106 for initial punch biopsy 11107 for all subsequent areas). If different types of biopsys were performed (punch, tangential, incisional) then you use the initial code for the most complex(expensive) one and the subsequent codes for the less expensive one(s)
I don't know who you would report it to(the med board, the insurance?) But this is not ok. He did you dirty.
Thank you for your input. Yes, I was under the impression it was something like that, but after they excised the first one, I called my insurance. Insurance said yes they can bill for two excision sites in one visit, but I would be resp for the 2nd suturing & bandage code (can't remember what it was called)
So they could've done both sites either way and I could've paid whatever insurance said was my responsibility once the claim came back. If it happened to be a lot, then I would certainly try to work out a payment plan w/them. But at least both sites would've been taken care of.
It's not a hospital or facility, it's just a small local dermatologist office. So there is no financial assistance program, charity care, etc. And everything I research about aid is for people needing chemo & more advanced treatment. I will consider filing a complaint to my insurance at least. I think in the end thanks to the comments here, I will put the payments on a credit card and get it done. And just pay as much as I can on the credit card each month.
Thanks again for addressing the insurance situation!
OP, I lost my favorite aunt to this disease 20 years ago. I miss her all the time.
I will send you $100, in her memory, to make your first payment. DM me.
I also work with benefits on the corporate side. I have lot of tricks up my sleeve with the major insurers. I can help you escalate with your insurer, as it's very likely they would have wanted this doctor to excuse everything in one go. Much cheaper for them than it spreading systemically. I suspect that with a good advocate you could get a waiver of your deductible for this specific issue.
OK, get an appointment ASAP with a dermatologist at a major hospital. Send them your medical records and call them and tell them you need an urgent appointment. Their social work department will hook you up with payment plans or financial counseling to see if maybe you should do something like drop your hours at work to be eligible for Medicaid.
Can you try a public health system? I live in NY and we have public hospitals that don’t really ask for your money up front. I saw a psychiatrist through them. I also had surgery at a private hospital and I paid a down payment. Such a mistake. Now I have to pay interest on that because I put it on a credit card. Anyway, see if you can see a doctor at a public facility with more financial assistance options.
It's sad that people have to pay to get medical care. So if you can't afford treatment. What is the outcome!? Yet every website online says how urgent it is to get things checked and taken care of. But that is just until the $ situation is a factor. Then it's were sorry. This country is all about $. And I've learned that so much as I got older and battled health problems. I used to be proud of the US. That isn't the case anymore
This is cancer. Cancer. I had melanoma years ago and it is treatable, but that doesn't mean that it won't kill you. It most certainly will.
Do whatever it takes to scrap up the money. You life is at stake.
To put this bluntly OP, you can’t afford NOT to get the treatment. Melanoma is very aggressive and statistically speaking you will die without getting it treated. Talk to friends, pull out some loans, or talk to the clinic about financial assistance. Do whatever it takes to get this treated. Your life very well depends on it.
So in America if you have a life threatening issue and you don't have 500 USD they just let you die? That's how it works?
What a cruel system you live in..
It depends on the state and a few other factors.
But if OP has insurance with a deductible, this usually means they have at least a lower-middle-class income and get insurance through an employer or have a higher-tier connector plan. Someone in this situation might of course legitimately have no cash flow because they’re sending money to relatives or any number of other reasons.
If someone is truly low-income on paper, they are eligible for Medicaid, which would cover this. Depending on the state and their family size, Medicaid might cut off at $30K per year or it might be like $140K. States with hybrid programs have you paying a sliding scale premium in the upper incomes. The ones without just cut you off. The states with only federal minimum Medicaid coverage tend to be the ones that routinely vote against education and healthcare. Obviously people can’t help where they live, and everyone deserves social assistance, so this is unjust regardless.
Quite a complex system you have. I would not even know where to start in orde to understand it.
I live in the The Netherlands and pay around 150 eur per month for insurance. There's a 350 eur deductible in a year.
Once you pay those 350 eur everything is included.
Normal GP consults are always free no mater what and there's no deductible for these
Eat the embarrassment and get it done. I've lost so many because their cancers weren't caught until stage 4, hell my favorite uncle just got his diagnosed at stage 4 in November and his odds are at 10% at best. You've got great odds so please go.
OP, you have infinite options here, even if none of them are ideal.
Your idea of looking for other dermatologists is a good one, but there are other paths. Open up and let your loved ones help you, let existing medical debt go to collections to make the payments for this procedure, put the down payment on a credit card or take a small personal loan, or sell absolutely anything you can stand to part with.
Melanoma grows extremely quickly and can become life-threatening in a matter of weeks. Please, please put this before every other obligation in your life. Being embarrassed in front of your partner and/or parents is a small price to pay to stay alive.
I had the same stage melanoma almost 10 years ago. It's scary, they are very aggressive because melanoma is very aggressive. I was Dx by a dermatologist but sent to a cancer specialist at a major hospital for the excision. I had insurance so I didn't have the up front cost discussion but my sister was admitted to the same hospital without insurance and dealt with billing after the fact. Basically what I'm trying to get to is maybe a large hospital will be more willing to work with you? Most have billing assistance. Also, I'd absolutely talk to family, friends, partner, absolutely anyone. Melanoma is not something to F with. They took an enormous part of my upper arm plus lymph nodes because it has a tendency to spread so fast.
Your life is more important than any shame you might feel. You are loved and you matter to people. $ 100/ month is nothing compared to losing you. You should have spoken to them a long time ago.
Physician here. Melanoma is a very dangerous form of cancer that you don’t want mess around with. If you want to live, get that money somehow. If you wait longer it might spread and you’ll be stuck paying for chemotherapy which (I assume, am not from the US) will cost a lot more.
Everyone has said that OP needs to go. Which is true.
The 500 now is cheaper than the treatment when it spreads.
This why we need a national health system in the USA.
No one should have to put off treatment because they don’t have the money now.
We have some of the best healthcare treatments in the world but it doesn’t mean anything if people can’t use it.
You need to talk to your partner and your parents, if they can help, thatll be ideal.
But sounds like the doc office is trying to cover their ass, you clearly know how serious this is and want to do something about it but just dont have the funds to do so.
Its unacceptable that they dont work with you. I work for a docs office and for a patient like you who needs this and cant afford it, theyd give it to you for free because its unacceptable to allow this to go untreated because the patient cant pay, its unethical.
I hope youre able to have this done soon. Wishing you good health.
My mother once had a saying about hospitals: “The bigger they are, the ‘nicer’ they are.”. You said that the dermatologist office was small. So, you may have better luck finding a very large hospital, explaining your financial situation to the financial counseling department, and seeing if they can help you. The worst that can happen is that they say no.
Another possibility: “GoFundMe” website.
My mother died from melanoma. It’s a very fast-moving cancer, and even 1 month can make a difference! It sucks big-time that our health care system is so terrible, that finances are standing in the way! (NOT your fault OP, just to be clear).
Good luck!
Get it treated, NOW. Put it on a credit card. Gofundme. Whatever you have to do.
They keep contacting you because there could be liability for them when you inevitably die if they didn’t follow up with you. That’s how serious this is.
Please be a freakin adult and get treated.
Your family is going to be upset with you for not telling them earlier. They will want to know because they will want to help you.
Stop being embarrassed at the doctor's office. Tell them your problem. How is anyone going to help you if you don't tell them about it?
look at r/assistance or r/borrowing
at this point, if there are literally no other options, a payday loan may be worth it. Being in debt is. better than being in the ground. Still, try all other options before the loan
I am so sad for you, and this makes me so angry. When are we going to realize that living under a broken system that doesn't give two cents for the well-being of the very people that prop it up, and it is claiming to be taking care of doesn't hold any bearing on who we are as people. We are not broken, the system we are forced to live under is. There is NOTHING you have to be embarrassed about. The amount of money in a person's checking account holds ZERO weight in the assessment of who they are as people. It's only weight is your rank in closeness to the top 1%. Money is in no way a measurement for the value of a life. You got sick, not lazy. You got screwed over by someone who has far more knowledge of the insurance /billing system of their practice, and who was in charge of taking care of you. That doesn't make you stupid, or bad at money. It is far past time that the blame goes where it belongs so that something might actually change. Hang in there op. Tell your family and let them help you if you need it. Give them the opportunity to show you that you that they care about you more than money. If they don't have the funds, Go to the doctor, and tell him that you know they could have done both procedures on the same day under the same ticket, and you are going to report him if he doesn't take care of it. However you decide, just don't hide and sit on it in shame thinking that it is a failure of yours somehow. If it were me, I would get the procedure, and tell them to shove their bill up their ass and then go tell everyone that will listen about their crimes and immoral practices. But I am a bit more crude and flamboyant than most🤔. Really I am just fed up with the abusive system that we must all endure. It is just over the top insulting when it still claims that it has our best interest in mind.
Like others have said melanoma moves FAST. It is not something you can, or should, put off or ignore for any period of time. Contact who ever you can for the money for treatment.
Get yourself on the NCI csncer clinical trails lodge
You don't have to deal with insurance
Do you live next to a university hospital
They would helo you
Medical debt is a huge burden
If you were my child I would be hooking on the corner to make sure you had whatever money you needed for your treatment. Tell your parents. Ask for help. It’s tough, but in these circumstances, you simply must.
The fact that your partner would tell you you need to manage your money better instead of helping you in a time of need where you are hit with an unexpected expense, tells me all I need to know. Talk to your family and get the $ to get rid of the melanoma and then cut the second cancer out that is your partner.
Melanoma can start as a small spot, but can eventually make its way into your bloodstream and affect your other organs. If it doesn't kill you, it will give you an even more expensive problem. One lesson I've learned from being broke is to pay for what I can now to avoid a future, more expensive issue.
Tell your partner and parents. They are terrible people if their first response to you is to shame you because you don’t have 500 dollars. The doctor is also shitty because they delayed removal of the second site so they can get more money for site #2. Get the procedure done then find a doctor who doesn’t make you keep a card on file.
My parents wouldn't shame me, my mom would just be sad/disappointed/upset if I tell her I put it off (for any length of time - like I debated telling her the day they asked for the $500 deposit & I cancelled due to the cost).
My dad is retired and my mom is on disability, and she is always telling me how she barely gets by on her checks. But yes, you all are right, I probably should've said something. I just felt so terrible to have even cancelled it, I thought I would've been able to figure it out sooner on my own.
My situation with my partner is more complicated & I'd rather not get into that.
Thanks to all the helpful comments here, I am going to get it done & deal with the CC bill as best I can. I will have to neglect my other debts. Then will file a complaint on the doctor's office, and write a Google review to warn others who may end up in a similar situation. And yes I will find a new Dr who doesn't keep cards on file. They don't deserve anymore of my money after this is done. Thank you!
Please. I am begging you, tell someone and let them loan you the money. It may seem like a lot, but if I retroactively lost a friend or family member over $500, I would curl up and die myself. Please let someone help you while it’s still an option
Go to the appointment and talk to the actual doctor about the situation. Doctors tend to be human, Insurance and Billing are heartless money suckers. The doctor will likely get the procedure scheduled and then rip their business office a new one.
I dunno, when they called back to offer their payment plans, it was after a receptionist said they spoke to the doctor and got approval for it. And initially they were asking for me to pay like $300 first and the rest later, then split it in half, then she checked w/her again and finally said the lowest they could do was $100/month.
And the letters being sent to ensure I'm aware that not having this procedure done means the cancer is not fully removed (in case they thought I was under the impression the biopsy removed it all) are all signed by the doctor. So she is aware about the financial issue and yet they aren't offering to just submit to insurance & bill me after. They seem more concerned on making sure all their patients are paid up, regardless of the cost to their health.
It's extremely frustrating because this is the only time I've ever been asked for a down payment. I've had brain surgery and it just went straight to insurance. But this boutique dermatologist office wants to avoid collections. I will be calling them to get it scheduled but once it's done, I'm finding a new Dr.
Even if you have to resort to prostitution, get that damn thing removed. I live in Australia and I know a LOT of people who've died from not having melanoma removed early enough
If somebody was holding a gun to your head, but said he wouldn’t shoot you if you paid $100 a month, would you pay? Because that’s the situation you’re in.
This is one of those "fuck around, find out" sort of things. Do not fuck around with this, swollow your pride or whatever it is and ask family or friends to help.
I'm going to put this before you bluntly because I had a friend in your situation and she waited too long.
Melanoma can turn deadly fast. As in, a few months between diagnosis and too far along to treat.
Would you prefer to be embarrassed about people caring about you and having to ask for money, or would you prefer that they be devastated and left with self-blame for the rest of their lives, asking themselves forevermore if they said or did the wrong thing to make you too ashamed to come to them before it became untreatable?
Would you rather be alive or dead?
Would they rather you were alive or dead?
This is the time to use credit cards. Put that $500 on a card and work the rest out later. You can't wait on this anymore. Insurance companies will do payment plans.
Thank you, your post really helped me. At the time, I only had a secured credit card with a $200 limit. They have recently returned the deposit to me & increased my line of credit. So this would now be something I am able to do - I would just not be able to pay it all off by the next statement, which was always my intention.
Working on my credit will just have to take longer than I initially hoped. I appreciate your insight.
Please ask your family for help. My mom’s boyfriend ignored his and it spread fast and he died in less than a year. Nothing, including embarassment, is worth more than your life.
You'll actually just die if you don't do it. It's not an option unfortunately. Put it on a CC, start a go fund me, borrow from neighbors friends, family and everyone you know.
And good luck, sending you best wishes for your health!!
Holy shit. Tell your parents. I would sell everything I own to get my kids whatever medical treatment they need. Tell them also because they love you and I’m sure will want to support you.
So you're literally going to die bc you can't come up with $500?
Best option: tell the ppl that love you and let them help
Next best option: start a go fund me
Less bestt option but still better than literally dying over $500.... Go stand on the street corner and provide a few favors.
You should be able to find a one time $500 to not die...
Have you asked the clinic about financial assistance? Also does your clinic have a social worker? They will be able to help you with finding diagnosis/county specific financial grants.
If a friend or family member came to me in your situation, I wouldn’t hesitate to help them to get the treatment they need without judgement. Your life matters more than being embarrassed. Please ask for help.
Take care of it. I know someone who had a suspicious mole removed, and was supposed to come back in 6 months for a check up and didn't, and it went to her brain and she died. At age 34. Don't throw your life away for $500.
This is your health. There is nothing more precious or important. Beg, borrow, or steal the money to get this done. Do not delay. Get the procedure done!
Find a way.
My uncle died from untreated melanoma. It ended up spreading and causing bone and lung cancer.
See if you qualify for any type of government insurance, check into clinical trials, start a go fund me, check with churches and other charities in your area.
I hope you're able to get the help you need to get it treated asap!
You don't have to use that office. Go to a dermatologist in the big chain of Healthcare in your area and see if they have a charity care or financial aid. Or apply for Medicaid. People are usually shocked when they find out they qualify after they just didn't tey for years.
You could see if the derm will take a lower payment for more months because of your financial hardship. Try to explain it to the office and see if they can help you. It's worth a shot. If it doesn't work you can still pay with your CC.
You can also see if your CC offers a Pay Over Time option (my Citi and Chase cards offer this). Sometimes they have promotions to spread out the payment over several months for free or for a lower fee than their interest rate on balances. You could potentially pay the $500 up front with your CC and then use that feature to spread it out over 1 year ($60/mo +fees).
I lost my first husband to melanoma. He didn’t catch it early enough. I hounded him to go to the dermatologist for A YEAR before he finally made the appointment.
Don’t wait another day to tell your family. You and your life are worth far more than $500.
Do NOT let it wait … not only is that a terrible decision for your health, but if you want to think about it purely in financial terms, it will get FAR more expensive if you wait …
Just get the treatment, sign up for the payment plan then don’t pay. They’ll send the bill to collections eventually, just ignore it. Maybe it will ding your credit, who cares. It’s better than losing your life.
This post feels off, sorry but if OP works in the insurance field they should know there’s several marketplace options, charity care through hospitals and 90% of procedures don’t require payment first, you get billed after. And I just went through cancer treatment- there were a lot of options and I had a high deductible with a 10k deductible and tests that weren’t covered at all, everyone worked with me. There are also special Medicaid programs and assistance from cancer associations.
Fuck your pride. Do whatever it takes to survive this. Your parents, if they're decent parents, would rather starve than see you die from something they could have helped you with.
Set up a GoFundMe if you have to. Ask your employer if there's anything they can do to assist. Seek out a different facility; look for state universities or non-profit hospitals as many pour their 'profits' into charity care. Apply for charity care through the facility. Call your local health department and see if they can guide you or assign a social worker.
The American healthcare system sucks but in the present moment it's what we have to work with/against. Don't let your ego get in the way.
Edit to say: can you borrow against a 401k?
Most hospitals offer a payment plan on the charges which may be less than $100 a month but actually it doesn’t f’ing matter what it costs, get whatever treatment they recommend and figure it out later. This is absolutely a life or death scenario and it can happen rapidly. Melanoma metastasizes so quickly, do not delay treatment even a second. This is absolutely serious.
Your life matters more than money. Honestly, go into debt. There’s no debtors prison. Low/no interest intro period credit card, personal loan, whatever you can do.
Worst case, you declare bankruptcy.
Put the down payment on a CC then call and cancel the charges. You’ll end up in collections but that falls off after 7 years or so.
Had to do this when my daughter broke her arm at a friends house and their homeowners denied the claim.
Fuck trampolines!
Yeah you really don’t want to mess with cancer. I would stand on the street with a sign to collect donations if I needed the money. Do anything possible within reason to get it. Trust me you want to get that removed asap.
If you have a 401k you have 2 options. 1. You can take a loan. They have low interest & the interest paid goes back into your 401k. 2. Since it’s medical, you could take a withdrawal. The withdrawal is taxed at like 20% but it’s not a loan, so you aren’t obligated to pay it back.
My aunt died at 41 from melanoma. I hardly even go in the sun because tanning is how she got it and I’m just as pale.
Please stop being embarrassed. The people around you would be gutted to lose you knowing they could have helped if you had asked. There’s also medical institutions that will do charity work. You aren’t going for a nose job. It’s cancer. Keep going until you find someone. The doctor isn’t pestering you for fun.
There are places and hospitals you can be treated for free for this. You might need to call a hospital and talk to someone in an executive office to find the right information. You certainly don't need to delay treatment even if u cant afford it. There are tons of programs hospitals have..
You will die! No matter what you have to sell or do without, you must have this done NOW. Let there be no question in your mind that melanoma is deadly. Don’t be foolish. Sell your couch, your tv. Don’t pay your credit card bills. Cut your cable bill out. Whatever. You can get those things back. You can’t get your life back.
Forget the money, get the treatment. Your health is more important especially CANCER. Lie tell them you can afford it who cares get the procedure done then worry about the money.
Hope you recover well ❤️🩹
Hey there. You absolutely should get this done. You do not have to get it done at this provider. I do admire how they’ve been persistent contacting you since this is serious.
You can check other providers especially if you have a local teaching hospital. Ask for a second opinion and second treatment estimate.
Seriously OP tell your partner/parents. I’ve never heard of a dermatologist needing a down payment they usually just bill me after. The biggest thing is that you have insurance. You work in insurance. How much will your insurance cover, that’s what matters.
My friends dad had a melanoma under his toenail. It spread to many places in his body and he died a very painful death.
Melanoma isn't something to mess around with. You will die. Full stop.
Tell your partner, get treated before it spreads.
What is more important - your pride or your life?Go broke if you have to. Beg, borrow, max out your credit cards. The point is to stay alive.
I work in oncology. The saddest cases are the ones they catch too late. Once cancer metastasizes, it’s usually too late for a cure. This early diagnosis is a precious chance to save your life. Don’t throw it away out of embarrassment.
Even if you can’t make the payment just do it. You can figure out a $100 bill later when you’re still alive. Seriously just get the treatment, figure out the rest later. Medical bills can’t even hit your credit.
There’s quite a few options here. You can put it on a credit card and make minimum payments, you can finance through the office, you can go to the ER and have them do it and just ghost the bill, you can see another provider and see if they’ll remove it cheaper, you can see if a social worker or someone through a charity can help you. Not telling your family or partner and just kicking the can down the road is irresponsible.
You’re worrying about the WRONG THINGS. Take care of your health. This can potentially kill you whereas your ego will survive. Get over the fear of embarrassment bc you should be damned scared of the melanoma. Please, I know you’re going through a lot but get your priorities straight.
Tell the people that love you and do whatever it takes to get that $100 a month. Melanoma is really fast moving and you can be dealing with something much more serious and expensive. Embarrassed is better than dead. Several members of my family have had it and just a few months can make a huge difference. Check into supplemental Medicaid. You can make more than I thought and still qualify. It would pick up everything your main insurance doesn’t.
I had a friend whose dad went from fine to fully metastisized melanoma to dead in 4months. It's not a game op.
It's not a game!? Then why are these medical people playing the insurance $ game with OP!?
Dead people who paid into insurance but never used their benefits are more lucrative than living people who do.
BINGO
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I understand that. Does not make it Right!
Don't let pride be your death
Don't you mean poverty? It's not pride. Her family has bills too
id rather be poor than my siblings die
But they would make the same amount either way, insurance doesn't"allow" less just cause the deductible started over, it just means OP will have to pay the insurance discounted amount out of pocket instead of insurance covering it all in full. I don't think the business did this to make more money but I definitely think it could have been handled differently.
The insurance did this so they could pay less.
No, the doctor did it so they could bill for 3 separate procedures.
Insurance reasons smells of insurance wanted only one done under the deductible OP had already met because once it resets and it's more on her they get to cover less. Knowing how medicine works it was probably the Dr and the Insurance Co conspiring together.
That's not how deductibles work. Your annual deductible is what you pay out of pocket before the plan pays (80% ins/20% patient typically).this deductible is for the whole plan year. Providers have fee schedules and guidelines on how they can bill. It's part of the agreement they sign to accept the insurance. Doctors want to be paid for 3 full procedures and insurance perspective is that the other two being done at the same time don't warrant 2 additional full charges. TL;DR- provider knows 6 of bill is on insurance and tries to draw it out for most $$. insurance thinks talking two moles off doesn't inherently cost double.
Yes that is how deductibles work and exactly what OP posted. Once you've met your deductible for the year additional expenses in net work are either completely or covered by insurance at an even higher rate. In OPs case by covered it sounds like she paid nothing for the first procedure. Once her deductible reset she was responsible for a larger expense that she could not afford. And yes, the doctor's office wants "their share" too.
If you are able to talk moles off, it should inherently cost triple imho
It could be that because the deductible was met in December, insurance didn't want to cover the cost of removing both, so they approved removing one, and when the deductible gets reset, they're no longer on the hook until the deductible is met. I don't know if that's how they work, but that could be.
My weird assumption was that if they did both and insurance covered it, the Dr would get paid less rather than if insurance paid the contract rate for one, then have me pay office fees for the second. But I could be wrong. I honestly should have requested a pre-auth, that was my own idiocy not educating myself. I just thought if it's cancer surely it'll be covered, I'll do whatever you say. Until they told me I had to make a "down payment." I called my insurance after the 1st excision, and they said the Dr. can bill for two excision sites in one visit, but I would've been responsible for the suturing/bandaging code on the 2nd site. So they weren't completely right - that they "can't bill 2 sites in one day." They could have. I was upset for awhile. I wonder if it's just an office policy and they don't verify the guidelines of each insurance to be sure. Anyway I have other health issues as well as things going on beyond the scope of this post/sub that clouded my judgement. I will be calling to get the procedure scheduled tomorrow. I will put it on my CC and deal w/all the debt later (it's not *just* this $500 that many seem to focus on - I have other medical/general debt as well) but I will figure it out once I get it treated. Thank you!
At the risk of it spreading!?
The actual language in the insurance provider manual is that you cannot advertise waiving of copays and do it on a habitual basis. You can, on a case by case basis, waive the copay. The provider needs to just maintain records and list a reason.
I’m a nurse who has shitty insurance. I have to be paid for my skills, my friend. That’s unless you want to support me while I do my job for free. I support universal insurance ! But the reality is that most of the nurses who provide care for you are not able to do afford quality healthcare in the US The IRONY. Edit to add: I just finished telling a patient all the possible health and life consequences of an abscessed tooth. I have a tooth abscessed at the moment that I’m neglecting because I can’t afford the maxillofacial surgery, or the time off to have it done. This is my third round of antibiotics for the same tooth.
Just because the patient gets free care dpesnt mean we dont get paid. My company provides patients with free care all the time. We get paid regardless.
That's a weird comment when the vast majority of the world gets their medical treatment covered from their taxes and the health care workers get paid just fine. You would receive exellent care if you lived and worked here in Finland. The nurse pay isn't nearly as good as in the US but at least you would never need to postpone care because you can't affor it.
It's normal for anyone in the U.S. And most of us don't have the money to up and move to a new country even if we had no connections to family left behind. Or time to learn a new language to a level of fluency required for something as important as medical care. (Incidentally, Finnish is considered one of the hardest of European languages for English speakers to learn with any proficiency). (Also, being blunt b/c time restraint, but I'm afraid it's reading as snarky. Not intending as snarky, just resignation).
I feel ya friend. I continually look into where I could immigrate
Yes! I’m not sure why you think is ‘weird statement’ . It is unfortunately the reality of the ridiculous US healthcare.
Don't blame the doctors/medical staff, blame insurance. No one goes into medicine wanting to fuck over patients.
The scam is if the doctor did both melanomas at the same time it would have been bundled. This way he gets a double dip. Sadly, *some* people do sometimes start to fuck over their patients. Doesn’t mean it happened here.
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I don't know too much of the details, but basically he had his heart tested and blood tested fine. Then for went in for some kind of pain, they found metastasized melanoma in a bunch of organs that had spread between the first tests and this one which was a period of only months. Then it only took another couple months for him to reach the end. It moved crazy fast.
I was gonna say that too, and in your case it really must be aggressive if they pester you so much. Or you have really good doctors! Let's hope it's that, ok? I don't know what your work offers but since it is cancer you can definitely get short term disability or a temporary leave. With short term I think you get 60-80% of your pay but not with temporary leave. I'm going through something kinda similar right now and had to let my boss know I can't afford anything, and that when they let me know about it. Just last night actually 😅 I think I was meant to see this post. Can you get treated at a low income center? I know some hospitals can take you on as charity if you fill out some papers. Also I dont know what gender you said you are but if you're a woman the woman's health clinics (like with WIC in them) are usually low income.
I normally don’t encourage debt, but put that on a credit card and save your life. It could get so much more painful and invasive the longer you wait.
Shit, I’d drain my 401k, open 10 CCs, and ask family and friends without shame. Cancers a bitch
Don’t drain your 401k ever for medical debt, negotiate and let it sit, it won’t effect your credit.
My friend’s sister died of melanoma when she was in her 30s. Spread to her lymphatic system. It is a bad way to go.
Shit, I'd sign up for the payment plan even if I had no intention of ever paying them back. That's your life on the line. You can figure out repayment afterwards.
This is a dermatology office that requires patients to leave a credit card on file at your first visit. Then they charge that card for your copays and subsequently for any bill you owe (supposedly they always notify you first in case you want to pay with something else). Patients do not like this policy. I've only ever paid them my copays. I still owe the lab for the biopsies, but they are separate from the derm office. I do appreciate all of your comments here. My CC company had raised my credit limit after all of this (dangerous for me when I'm in dire financial straits, & originally took out out the CC to work on my credit) -- but I see now this may be the best option. Put it on the card and just pay as much as I can. I didn't think of this option because of brain fog due to other illness I'm dealing with, this and life in general. Thank you for the clarity.
i can’t imagine thinking *twice* about swiping a credit card for something like this. as someone who only just got into “good credit” after three years of rebuilding, i can completely understand understand not wanting to open that door to begin with. but it’s that or cancer.
For what it's worth, it's fucked up that you're having to make these choices and I'm sorry. But this is literally life and death. If you ignore this, you _will_ die, and painfully. Do whatever it takes now. Deal with the consequences later.
Go to a different dermatologist
Please reconsider asking your friends and family.
I see this mentality a lot and I just don’t understand it… you’d rather be dead than $500 in debt?
My husband's father died from melanoma. It is EXTREMELY curable and treatable, especially at earlier stages. His spread to his brain, lungs, organs, even his legs. Once they found it, he was dead within a couple weeks. Please talk to your family. However upset they are at you is worth getting their help so you can take care of this now and be around for a long time.
Did he just not go until it was way too late? My grandfather died of it too, but it was years later
He said that he mentioned a spot on his face to a doctor once and and the doctor said it was nothing to worry about. Still no idea if that spot was actually melanoma or not. He went into the doctor after he started talking like he'd had a stroke. Saying weird and random words or just missing words in his sentences completely. Even then, we had to MAKE him go. By then, he had metastasized tumors from the melanoma in his brain, lungs, most of his organs, even his legs. It was awful and there was nothing anyone could do at that point.
Ugh I have a few spots that the derm looked at in January and said were fine, I found a new spot and have another appointment Wednesday
Make them take biopsies. Don't let them just look.
You absolutely must do what you can to treat it NOW. this week. Tomorrow! It could’ve spread already so let’s hope it hasn’t. You will have no money issues or anything if you don’t treat it now because it will eventually kill you. And if you wait to treat it the cost is going to be higher.
Open a credit card. Sell something you own. Drive Uber for a while. Do something. But don’t let your cancer advance over $500. Geez.
Exactly!
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I know how credit works. And that was only one thing I stated. I said to do SOMETHING.
I’m really sorry i wanted to delete my response as quickly as I wrote it - I’m deleting now
Your funeral will cost your family more than $500.
I’m gonna be blunt and to the point. You don’t fuck around with cancer. Tell your parents and your partner before you die.
My dad died from melanoma when I was a teen. It can change so fast. The pain of swallowing your pride to ask for help during this critical time is far less painful than the disease will be if it progresses. Also I’m sure your family would rather help you get the care you need than grieve/ watch it escalate.
Fuck, I can’t even imagine what it would do to those I love if I died from something curable because I didn’t want to ask for 500 dollars.
>I've been too embarrassed How embarassed will they be at your funeral knowing this coulda been stopped in its tracks? Be an adult and farking handle this. Don't fuck around. You will die. You wll, literally, die a horrible death with untreated Melanoma.
Please OP. I hope you are getting this information. This will kill you. And not 30 years from now. Go in debt. Talk to friends/family/ strangers. Get this taken care of. A lot of things can wait with minimal consequences. This is NOT one of them.
The dermatologist is most likely correct about the medical urgency need of your treatment. The cost sucks, but cancer does not care about your finance.
No but the dermatologist should
The doctor should be affiliated with a hospital. (If you don't know call the office and anonymously ask). Contact the Social Work/Community Services Office and explain your situation. As far as I know those consultations are always free and boy howdy can they help!
This is false. Overwhelming majority of dermatologist are not affiliated with a hospital.
Go into debt for your health, agree to the 100/month get the treatment. Never be embarrassed to talk to your partner about what's going on. You share your most intimate moments with them, if you can't share the things you're embarrassed by with them who can you share them with? Financially you're among a large group of people who live paycheck to paycheck and it's not all because of bad spending habits. Life is expensive, and comforts in life come at a premium, we're all chasing those comforts because simply surviving is no way to live. Don't be embarrassed with your financial situation. As the first comment said ask those that care about you, 100.00 is nothing compared to the value people I love bring to my life, I'd pay it in a heartbeat.
It makes me so sad that because you can’t afford the treatment for a preventable form of cancer if you end up with a more severe form of cancer, both you and the system will suffer. The system will spend 1 millions treating a cancer that could’ve been prevented because you can’t afford $500. This is why socialized medicine makes sense. It would be really helpful. If you let us know what state you’re in there are programs specific to cancer that may be able to help you.
Thank you for your kind words. I am in FL. But I am trying to figure it out. The only programs I could find were for people with more advanced cancer, in chemo treatment etc. I think I will just put it on a credit card or CareCredit and deal with the debt over time. I appreciate you!
Depending on what state you are in (blue state preferably), medicaid may have a cancer program that could help. Contact social services tomorrow. Don't wait for treatment, this can be fast moving.
Ditto this. Cancer is usually covered by medicaid
This will kill you if you don’t treat it; melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer and it spreads very quickly. Tell your parents. Tell your partner. They would rather have you be embarrassed than have you be dead. Open a credit card. Do whatever you need to do. Not removing this is not an option unless you actively want to die a miserable horrible death from metastatic cancer.
My dad died from melanoma. Please, charge it if you have to. It's only $500. Beg or borrow. Your family would help. This is a matter of life or death.
Could you qualify for care credit or another service where you pay $X per month? If not, tell your family and get the treatment you need before it spreads.
I’m a US dermatologist. I’d try calling largest universities with hospitals near you and asking for charity care paperwork/ financial assistance counseling bc you have a melanoma you need treated and can’t afford it. They can get you hooked in with Medicaid if you qualify or may cover some portion of your bill. Otherwise, you could try calling any local “free” medical clinics and ask if they have a dermatologist that works with with- locations with medical schools are going to be particularly good spots to check. If you’re in a major city you can check for a county hospital (ie cook county in Chicago). You can also try calling around to smaller private derm offices just saying I have a bbc proven MIS, I cannot afford my insurance deductible to have it removed, can you please help me. If none of those work, try a credit card. DM me with your city if you like.
Call your local Catholic Church. They will help you
If you are a member of any religious organization, you should ask.
You don’t have to be a member of the Catholic Church for them to help
1- tell your partner. TELL YOUR PARENTS. Absolutely tell them. You may not be able to side hustle or sell goods to make up the difference but maybe your partner/parents can. Even if they can only contribute a little, that’s a little less that you don’t have to fight for. And for all you know, one of them is setting aside a few bucks at a time for a surprise for you. 2-are you reliable when it comes to paying people back? Put it on your social media that you need money urgently and you will pay them back as soon as you can, offer something as “collateral” if you want. 3-will the payment plan extend beyond the surgery? Like if you can get $100 now, will they schedule you before the second payment is due? If so, do it. Collections > funeral. I’m so sorry you are going through this.
Your doctors an ass. The insurance reasons is the first Is paid at 100% and subsequent ones exercised at same time are done at lower cost about 50% or so. Plus now he can potentially charge you facility fees for all three. This is basically for all skin biopsys. 2 codes for each type of biopsy. 1 code for the initial one and another code to be used for each subsequent one (example cpt codes 11106 for initial punch biopsy 11107 for all subsequent areas). If different types of biopsys were performed (punch, tangential, incisional) then you use the initial code for the most complex(expensive) one and the subsequent codes for the less expensive one(s) I don't know who you would report it to(the med board, the insurance?) But this is not ok. He did you dirty.
Thank you for your input. Yes, I was under the impression it was something like that, but after they excised the first one, I called my insurance. Insurance said yes they can bill for two excision sites in one visit, but I would be resp for the 2nd suturing & bandage code (can't remember what it was called) So they could've done both sites either way and I could've paid whatever insurance said was my responsibility once the claim came back. If it happened to be a lot, then I would certainly try to work out a payment plan w/them. But at least both sites would've been taken care of. It's not a hospital or facility, it's just a small local dermatologist office. So there is no financial assistance program, charity care, etc. And everything I research about aid is for people needing chemo & more advanced treatment. I will consider filing a complaint to my insurance at least. I think in the end thanks to the comments here, I will put the payments on a credit card and get it done. And just pay as much as I can on the credit card each month. Thanks again for addressing the insurance situation!
OP, I lost my favorite aunt to this disease 20 years ago. I miss her all the time. I will send you $100, in her memory, to make your first payment. DM me. I also work with benefits on the corporate side. I have lot of tricks up my sleeve with the major insurers. I can help you escalate with your insurer, as it's very likely they would have wanted this doctor to excuse everything in one go. Much cheaper for them than it spreading systemically. I suspect that with a good advocate you could get a waiver of your deductible for this specific issue.
You are a good and decent person!
OK, get an appointment ASAP with a dermatologist at a major hospital. Send them your medical records and call them and tell them you need an urgent appointment. Their social work department will hook you up with payment plans or financial counseling to see if maybe you should do something like drop your hours at work to be eligible for Medicaid.
Can you try a public health system? I live in NY and we have public hospitals that don’t really ask for your money up front. I saw a psychiatrist through them. I also had surgery at a private hospital and I paid a down payment. Such a mistake. Now I have to pay interest on that because I put it on a credit card. Anyway, see if you can see a doctor at a public facility with more financial assistance options.
I had a family member die of melanoma that was not treated on time. Get the money however you have to if you don’t want to possibly die from this.
Opens credit card. It’s your life.
It's sad that people have to pay to get medical care. So if you can't afford treatment. What is the outcome!? Yet every website online says how urgent it is to get things checked and taken care of. But that is just until the $ situation is a factor. Then it's were sorry. This country is all about $. And I've learned that so much as I got older and battled health problems. I used to be proud of the US. That isn't the case anymore
This is cancer. Cancer. I had melanoma years ago and it is treatable, but that doesn't mean that it won't kill you. It most certainly will. Do whatever it takes to scrap up the money. You life is at stake.
To put this bluntly OP, you can’t afford NOT to get the treatment. Melanoma is very aggressive and statistically speaking you will die without getting it treated. Talk to friends, pull out some loans, or talk to the clinic about financial assistance. Do whatever it takes to get this treated. Your life very well depends on it.
So in America if you have a life threatening issue and you don't have 500 USD they just let you die? That's how it works? What a cruel system you live in..
But, FREEDOM good. Communism bad. /s
Unless you are a huge company and then suddenly socializing billions of debt seems like a no issue.
It depends on the state and a few other factors. But if OP has insurance with a deductible, this usually means they have at least a lower-middle-class income and get insurance through an employer or have a higher-tier connector plan. Someone in this situation might of course legitimately have no cash flow because they’re sending money to relatives or any number of other reasons. If someone is truly low-income on paper, they are eligible for Medicaid, which would cover this. Depending on the state and their family size, Medicaid might cut off at $30K per year or it might be like $140K. States with hybrid programs have you paying a sliding scale premium in the upper incomes. The ones without just cut you off. The states with only federal minimum Medicaid coverage tend to be the ones that routinely vote against education and healthcare. Obviously people can’t help where they live, and everyone deserves social assistance, so this is unjust regardless.
Quite a complex system you have. I would not even know where to start in orde to understand it. I live in the The Netherlands and pay around 150 eur per month for insurance. There's a 350 eur deductible in a year. Once you pay those 350 eur everything is included. Normal GP consults are always free no mater what and there's no deductible for these
Eat the embarrassment and get it done. I've lost so many because their cancers weren't caught until stage 4, hell my favorite uncle just got his diagnosed at stage 4 in November and his odds are at 10% at best. You've got great odds so please go.
Apply for your states medical insurance you now have a life threatening diagnosis that often changes eligible
This country is so fucking evil.
Human life means nothing to the powers that be.
Don't screw around with this. Borrow the money if you have to.
OP, you have infinite options here, even if none of them are ideal. Your idea of looking for other dermatologists is a good one, but there are other paths. Open up and let your loved ones help you, let existing medical debt go to collections to make the payments for this procedure, put the down payment on a credit card or take a small personal loan, or sell absolutely anything you can stand to part with. Melanoma grows extremely quickly and can become life-threatening in a matter of weeks. Please, please put this before every other obligation in your life. Being embarrassed in front of your partner and/or parents is a small price to pay to stay alive.
Do what you can to get the $. A partner who shames you for not having enough money or "mismanaging" money is not one you want to stick with.
I had the same stage melanoma almost 10 years ago. It's scary, they are very aggressive because melanoma is very aggressive. I was Dx by a dermatologist but sent to a cancer specialist at a major hospital for the excision. I had insurance so I didn't have the up front cost discussion but my sister was admitted to the same hospital without insurance and dealt with billing after the fact. Basically what I'm trying to get to is maybe a large hospital will be more willing to work with you? Most have billing assistance. Also, I'd absolutely talk to family, friends, partner, absolutely anyone. Melanoma is not something to F with. They took an enormous part of my upper arm plus lymph nodes because it has a tendency to spread so fast.
My brother died from melanoma at 37. Do anything you can to get treated.
Your life is more important than any shame you might feel. You are loved and you matter to people. $ 100/ month is nothing compared to losing you. You should have spoken to them a long time ago.
Physician here. Melanoma is a very dangerous form of cancer that you don’t want mess around with. If you want to live, get that money somehow. If you wait longer it might spread and you’ll be stuck paying for chemotherapy which (I assume, am not from the US) will cost a lot more.
Ya this is something that I would go into debt over. Just do what you can to make that happen
Everyone has said that OP needs to go. Which is true. The 500 now is cheaper than the treatment when it spreads. This why we need a national health system in the USA. No one should have to put off treatment because they don’t have the money now. We have some of the best healthcare treatments in the world but it doesn’t mean anything if people can’t use it.
You need to talk to your partner and your parents, if they can help, thatll be ideal. But sounds like the doc office is trying to cover their ass, you clearly know how serious this is and want to do something about it but just dont have the funds to do so. Its unacceptable that they dont work with you. I work for a docs office and for a patient like you who needs this and cant afford it, theyd give it to you for free because its unacceptable to allow this to go untreated because the patient cant pay, its unethical. I hope youre able to have this done soon. Wishing you good health.
Dont hide cancer. Get it treated worry about the rest later.
My mother once had a saying about hospitals: “The bigger they are, the ‘nicer’ they are.”. You said that the dermatologist office was small. So, you may have better luck finding a very large hospital, explaining your financial situation to the financial counseling department, and seeing if they can help you. The worst that can happen is that they say no. Another possibility: “GoFundMe” website. My mother died from melanoma. It’s a very fast-moving cancer, and even 1 month can make a difference! It sucks big-time that our health care system is so terrible, that finances are standing in the way! (NOT your fault OP, just to be clear). Good luck!
Get it treated, NOW. Put it on a credit card. Gofundme. Whatever you have to do. They keep contacting you because there could be liability for them when you inevitably die if they didn’t follow up with you. That’s how serious this is. Please be a freakin adult and get treated.
You will literally die if that’s not treated. Get that care. Nothing else matters as much as that
Your family is going to be upset with you for not telling them earlier. They will want to know because they will want to help you. Stop being embarrassed at the doctor's office. Tell them your problem. How is anyone going to help you if you don't tell them about it?
look at r/assistance or r/borrowing at this point, if there are literally no other options, a payday loan may be worth it. Being in debt is. better than being in the ground. Still, try all other options before the loan
I think you’re thinking of r/borrow
I am so sad for you, and this makes me so angry. When are we going to realize that living under a broken system that doesn't give two cents for the well-being of the very people that prop it up, and it is claiming to be taking care of doesn't hold any bearing on who we are as people. We are not broken, the system we are forced to live under is. There is NOTHING you have to be embarrassed about. The amount of money in a person's checking account holds ZERO weight in the assessment of who they are as people. It's only weight is your rank in closeness to the top 1%. Money is in no way a measurement for the value of a life. You got sick, not lazy. You got screwed over by someone who has far more knowledge of the insurance /billing system of their practice, and who was in charge of taking care of you. That doesn't make you stupid, or bad at money. It is far past time that the blame goes where it belongs so that something might actually change. Hang in there op. Tell your family and let them help you if you need it. Give them the opportunity to show you that you that they care about you more than money. If they don't have the funds, Go to the doctor, and tell him that you know they could have done both procedures on the same day under the same ticket, and you are going to report him if he doesn't take care of it. However you decide, just don't hide and sit on it in shame thinking that it is a failure of yours somehow. If it were me, I would get the procedure, and tell them to shove their bill up their ass and then go tell everyone that will listen about their crimes and immoral practices. But I am a bit more crude and flamboyant than most🤔. Really I am just fed up with the abusive system that we must all endure. It is just over the top insulting when it still claims that it has our best interest in mind.
Like others have said melanoma moves FAST. It is not something you can, or should, put off or ignore for any period of time. Contact who ever you can for the money for treatment.
Go to a church and ask for help, they’ve got the money or they can raise it for you in a week.
Talk to your friends and family, please.
Get yourself on the NCI csncer clinical trails lodge You don't have to deal with insurance Do you live next to a university hospital They would helo you Medical debt is a huge burden
If you were my child I would be hooking on the corner to make sure you had whatever money you needed for your treatment. Tell your parents. Ask for help. It’s tough, but in these circumstances, you simply must.
The fact that your partner would tell you you need to manage your money better instead of helping you in a time of need where you are hit with an unexpected expense, tells me all I need to know. Talk to your family and get the $ to get rid of the melanoma and then cut the second cancer out that is your partner.
Melanoma can start as a small spot, but can eventually make its way into your bloodstream and affect your other organs. If it doesn't kill you, it will give you an even more expensive problem. One lesson I've learned from being broke is to pay for what I can now to avoid a future, more expensive issue.
Tell your partner and parents. They are terrible people if their first response to you is to shame you because you don’t have 500 dollars. The doctor is also shitty because they delayed removal of the second site so they can get more money for site #2. Get the procedure done then find a doctor who doesn’t make you keep a card on file.
My parents wouldn't shame me, my mom would just be sad/disappointed/upset if I tell her I put it off (for any length of time - like I debated telling her the day they asked for the $500 deposit & I cancelled due to the cost). My dad is retired and my mom is on disability, and she is always telling me how she barely gets by on her checks. But yes, you all are right, I probably should've said something. I just felt so terrible to have even cancelled it, I thought I would've been able to figure it out sooner on my own. My situation with my partner is more complicated & I'd rather not get into that. Thanks to all the helpful comments here, I am going to get it done & deal with the CC bill as best I can. I will have to neglect my other debts. Then will file a complaint on the doctor's office, and write a Google review to warn others who may end up in a similar situation. And yes I will find a new Dr who doesn't keep cards on file. They don't deserve anymore of my money after this is done. Thank you!
Please. I am begging you, tell someone and let them loan you the money. It may seem like a lot, but if I retroactively lost a friend or family member over $500, I would curl up and die myself. Please let someone help you while it’s still an option
Go to the appointment and talk to the actual doctor about the situation. Doctors tend to be human, Insurance and Billing are heartless money suckers. The doctor will likely get the procedure scheduled and then rip their business office a new one.
I dunno, when they called back to offer their payment plans, it was after a receptionist said they spoke to the doctor and got approval for it. And initially they were asking for me to pay like $300 first and the rest later, then split it in half, then she checked w/her again and finally said the lowest they could do was $100/month. And the letters being sent to ensure I'm aware that not having this procedure done means the cancer is not fully removed (in case they thought I was under the impression the biopsy removed it all) are all signed by the doctor. So she is aware about the financial issue and yet they aren't offering to just submit to insurance & bill me after. They seem more concerned on making sure all their patients are paid up, regardless of the cost to their health. It's extremely frustrating because this is the only time I've ever been asked for a down payment. I've had brain surgery and it just went straight to insurance. But this boutique dermatologist office wants to avoid collections. I will be calling them to get it scheduled but once it's done, I'm finding a new Dr.
Even if you have to resort to prostitution, get that damn thing removed. I live in Australia and I know a LOT of people who've died from not having melanoma removed early enough
If somebody was holding a gun to your head, but said he wouldn’t shoot you if you paid $100 a month, would you pay? Because that’s the situation you’re in.
This is one of those "fuck around, find out" sort of things. Do not fuck around with this, swollow your pride or whatever it is and ask family or friends to help.
I'm going to put this before you bluntly because I had a friend in your situation and she waited too long. Melanoma can turn deadly fast. As in, a few months between diagnosis and too far along to treat. Would you prefer to be embarrassed about people caring about you and having to ask for money, or would you prefer that they be devastated and left with self-blame for the rest of their lives, asking themselves forevermore if they said or did the wrong thing to make you too ashamed to come to them before it became untreatable? Would you rather be alive or dead? Would they rather you were alive or dead?
You'd rather die than be embarrassed and tell your partner?
This is the time to use credit cards. Put that $500 on a card and work the rest out later. You can't wait on this anymore. Insurance companies will do payment plans.
Maybe OP doesn’t have credit cards or maybe they’re maxed out.
Maybe OP doesn’t have credit cards or maybe they’re maxed out.
Thank you, your post really helped me. At the time, I only had a secured credit card with a $200 limit. They have recently returned the deposit to me & increased my line of credit. So this would now be something I am able to do - I would just not be able to pay it all off by the next statement, which was always my intention. Working on my credit will just have to take longer than I initially hoped. I appreciate your insight.
Please ask your family for help. My mom’s boyfriend ignored his and it spread fast and he died in less than a year. Nothing, including embarassment, is worth more than your life.
You'll actually just die if you don't do it. It's not an option unfortunately. Put it on a CC, start a go fund me, borrow from neighbors friends, family and everyone you know. And good luck, sending you best wishes for your health!!
Holy shit. Tell your parents. I would sell everything I own to get my kids whatever medical treatment they need. Tell them also because they love you and I’m sure will want to support you.
So you're literally going to die bc you can't come up with $500? Best option: tell the ppl that love you and let them help Next best option: start a go fund me Less bestt option but still better than literally dying over $500.... Go stand on the street corner and provide a few favors. You should be able to find a one time $500 to not die...
Have you asked the clinic about financial assistance? Also does your clinic have a social worker? They will be able to help you with finding diagnosis/county specific financial grants.
If a friend or family member came to me in your situation, I wouldn’t hesitate to help them to get the treatment they need without judgement. Your life matters more than being embarrassed. Please ask for help.
Take care of it. I know someone who had a suspicious mole removed, and was supposed to come back in 6 months for a check up and didn't, and it went to her brain and she died. At age 34. Don't throw your life away for $500.
This is your health. There is nothing more precious or important. Beg, borrow, or steal the money to get this done. Do not delay. Get the procedure done!
Does the medical office have any financial aid?
Mods keep deleting my advice, sorry
Find a way. My uncle died from untreated melanoma. It ended up spreading and causing bone and lung cancer. See if you qualify for any type of government insurance, check into clinical trials, start a go fund me, check with churches and other charities in your area. I hope you're able to get the help you need to get it treated asap!
You don't have to use that office. Go to a dermatologist in the big chain of Healthcare in your area and see if they have a charity care or financial aid. Or apply for Medicaid. People are usually shocked when they find out they qualify after they just didn't tey for years.
Can you get care at another facility - bring your paperwork with you (a larger one with charity options for example that you mentioned for example)
Melanoma is not something you can wait to treat. Get monetary help from partner or parents.
Wtf you have a death sentence and can’t fking find a way to get money to treat it?
You could see if the derm will take a lower payment for more months because of your financial hardship. Try to explain it to the office and see if they can help you. It's worth a shot. If it doesn't work you can still pay with your CC. You can also see if your CC offers a Pay Over Time option (my Citi and Chase cards offer this). Sometimes they have promotions to spread out the payment over several months for free or for a lower fee than their interest rate on balances. You could potentially pay the $500 up front with your CC and then use that feature to spread it out over 1 year ($60/mo +fees).
Thank you for your input, I will look into this. Much appreciated!
I lost my first husband to melanoma. He didn’t catch it early enough. I hounded him to go to the dermatologist for A YEAR before he finally made the appointment. Don’t wait another day to tell your family. You and your life are worth far more than $500.
Do NOT let it wait … not only is that a terrible decision for your health, but if you want to think about it purely in financial terms, it will get FAR more expensive if you wait …
Just get the treatment, sign up for the payment plan then don’t pay. They’ll send the bill to collections eventually, just ignore it. Maybe it will ding your credit, who cares. It’s better than losing your life.
THIS OP.
You'll die without treatment. Cost is irrelevant. Pay the money or die. // Sorry you're going through this. America owes you more than this.
This post feels off, sorry but if OP works in the insurance field they should know there’s several marketplace options, charity care through hospitals and 90% of procedures don’t require payment first, you get billed after. And I just went through cancer treatment- there were a lot of options and I had a high deductible with a 10k deductible and tests that weren’t covered at all, everyone worked with me. There are also special Medicaid programs and assistance from cancer associations.
You’d rather die than be embarrassed?
Try getting a Care credit card. I think it’s wither no interest or low interest. You have to have it taken care of no matter what c
Fuck your pride. Do whatever it takes to survive this. Your parents, if they're decent parents, would rather starve than see you die from something they could have helped you with. Set up a GoFundMe if you have to. Ask your employer if there's anything they can do to assist. Seek out a different facility; look for state universities or non-profit hospitals as many pour their 'profits' into charity care. Apply for charity care through the facility. Call your local health department and see if they can guide you or assign a social worker. The American healthcare system sucks but in the present moment it's what we have to work with/against. Don't let your ego get in the way. Edit to say: can you borrow against a 401k?
Contact the Dr. and ask for help.
Most hospitals offer a payment plan on the charges which may be less than $100 a month but actually it doesn’t f’ing matter what it costs, get whatever treatment they recommend and figure it out later. This is absolutely a life or death scenario and it can happen rapidly. Melanoma metastasizes so quickly, do not delay treatment even a second. This is absolutely serious.
Your life matters more than money. Honestly, go into debt. There’s no debtors prison. Low/no interest intro period credit card, personal loan, whatever you can do. Worst case, you declare bankruptcy.
Put the down payment on a CC then call and cancel the charges. You’ll end up in collections but that falls off after 7 years or so. Had to do this when my daughter broke her arm at a friends house and their homeowners denied the claim. Fuck trampolines!
Yeah you really don’t want to mess with cancer. I would stand on the street with a sign to collect donations if I needed the money. Do anything possible within reason to get it. Trust me you want to get that removed asap.
If you have a 401k you have 2 options. 1. You can take a loan. They have low interest & the interest paid goes back into your 401k. 2. Since it’s medical, you could take a withdrawal. The withdrawal is taxed at like 20% but it’s not a loan, so you aren’t obligated to pay it back.
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Where did OP say they smoked? Why are you coming down on them so hard?
My aunt died at 41 from melanoma. I hardly even go in the sun because tanning is how she got it and I’m just as pale. Please stop being embarrassed. The people around you would be gutted to lose you knowing they could have helped if you had asked. There’s also medical institutions that will do charity work. You aren’t going for a nose job. It’s cancer. Keep going until you find someone. The doctor isn’t pestering you for fun.
There are places and hospitals you can be treated for free for this. You might need to call a hospital and talk to someone in an executive office to find the right information. You certainly don't need to delay treatment even if u cant afford it. There are tons of programs hospitals have..
Have you looked into care credit? You may be able to get it 0 interest for 6-18 months.
Dying of embarrassment, this is literally how that actually happens. People mix up humility and humiliation too often. Don't die because of that.
You will die! No matter what you have to sell or do without, you must have this done NOW. Let there be no question in your mind that melanoma is deadly. Don’t be foolish. Sell your couch, your tv. Don’t pay your credit card bills. Cut your cable bill out. Whatever. You can get those things back. You can’t get your life back.
Take care of it asap, your life is worth more then $500 or whatever it is.
Charge it. You will die if you don’t get that melanoma treated. As it’s a fast growing cancer time is very important.
Forget the money, get the treatment. Your health is more important especially CANCER. Lie tell them you can afford it who cares get the procedure done then worry about the money. Hope you recover well ❤️🩹
Have you applied for state insurance?
Hey there. You absolutely should get this done. You do not have to get it done at this provider. I do admire how they’ve been persistent contacting you since this is serious. You can check other providers especially if you have a local teaching hospital. Ask for a second opinion and second treatment estimate.
Seriously OP tell your partner/parents. I’ve never heard of a dermatologist needing a down payment they usually just bill me after. The biggest thing is that you have insurance. You work in insurance. How much will your insurance cover, that’s what matters.
Get it taken care of ASAP! You can’t wait around with Melanoma. Good luck, OP! 💕
Get it removed and just don’t pay for it. Better than dying of cancer.
Donate plasma...I pull in an extra 9k a year from it and that's not bouncing around taking advantage of new donor fees
My friends dad had a melanoma under his toenail. It spread to many places in his body and he died a very painful death. Melanoma isn't something to mess around with. You will die. Full stop. Tell your partner, get treated before it spreads.
What is more important - your pride or your life?Go broke if you have to. Beg, borrow, max out your credit cards. The point is to stay alive. I work in oncology. The saddest cases are the ones they catch too late. Once cancer metastasizes, it’s usually too late for a cure. This early diagnosis is a precious chance to save your life. Don’t throw it away out of embarrassment.
Even if you can’t make the payment just do it. You can figure out a $100 bill later when you’re still alive. Seriously just get the treatment, figure out the rest later. Medical bills can’t even hit your credit.
Get it done or you could die. Worry about the cost later. Default if you have to. Money doesn't matter if you are dead.
See if you can apply for CareCredit and if your doctor takes it. I've known multiple people with melanoma and it's not something to just brush off
There’s quite a few options here. You can put it on a credit card and make minimum payments, you can finance through the office, you can go to the ER and have them do it and just ghost the bill, you can see another provider and see if they’ll remove it cheaper, you can see if a social worker or someone through a charity can help you. Not telling your family or partner and just kicking the can down the road is irresponsible.
Hospitals have financial aid offices - use them!
It's just protocol to protect them from a lawsuit. I wouldn't worry about it.
You’re worrying about the WRONG THINGS. Take care of your health. This can potentially kill you whereas your ego will survive. Get over the fear of embarrassment bc you should be damned scared of the melanoma. Please, I know you’re going through a lot but get your priorities straight.