Who is the Uninsured and how can we help?

The Who

Gender

Age

Children

Children by Age

Children by Race and Ethnic Origin

Top 5 By State (Uninsured)

West Virginia = 47% Alaska = 46% Rhode Island = 37% Maine = 36% Washington = 36%

The What

Underinsured Underinsured: has insurance but does not cover a good deal of expensive therapy

or healthcare needs Your best friend will be organizations called co-pay foundations. These groups will issue patients money after you qualify for their financial

requirements and issue monetary grants to pay for any or all of the following expenses: co-payments, deductibles, or premiums.

There may be restrictions based on what your diagnosis is, so it is important to fully understand what you would be eligible for; each foundation’s guidelines vary. Some of the most reputable foundations are below

(PANF) Patient Access Network Foundation (PAF) Patient Advocate Foundation (CDF) Chronic Disease Fund (LLS) Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Healthwell Cancer Care Needy Meds

Uninsured Switching gears and focusing now on the uninsured.

You may not know this but there are patient assistance programs for almost every medication patients are taking.

The internet is a good resource to find these programs. I would type in “[product name] patient assistance program”, and I am sure you will receive several hits that will lead you in the right direction.

Typically an uninsured person may also be eligible for Medicare or Medicaid. To contact these groups you can use either of the following methods. CMS is the government name/agency that runs these organizations: via the Internet/website: cms.gov or via telephone at 800-633-4227.

The foundations listed previously may also be able to help, so do not rule those groups out.

There are also state run insurance groups, although they tend to be expensive. If you call into your state insurance commissioner there will be resources galore typically by county that you can utilize as well. The website that will help you understand the resources around this is listed by state at http://www.patientadvocate.org/index.php?p=178.

In Closing

Final Notes In addition to all of these tips and regardless of your needs and status, I would highly

recommend using the internet and typing key words like: patient assistance programs, patient advocacy, financial assistance and also words that apply to your current situation.

For example I worked on a case for a gentleman that was in need of a voice box, he lost his larynx to cancer, and my team was able to identify a group within that patient’s county to completely pay for his much needed equipment.

In another case a woman was looking for assistance to pay for a wig since she had lost all of her hair from chemo treatments. My team was able to identify a local hospital and non profit group called Locks of Love to pay for her wig.

If you or a person you know has affiliations with churches they belong to, colleges, if they are a veteran or part of a society of some sort, these organizations tend to step up and assist in any way possible so be sure to reach out to those groups as well.

Your hospitals may have social workers on site, so if a person is uninsured it is important to network with that person and the hospital in general, they may have local resources a person can take advantage of.

There are more resources than you know; it is all about awareness and informing the people about those resources around you.

Debra Jennings

-Healthcare Professional &

Patient Advocate at large