My mom receives a little over $1,500 a month from Social Security disability. Her medical bills and prescription drug costs are roughly $800 right now doing the bare minimum. Her heart doctor needs to run more tests to figure out why her blood pressure is staying in such a dangerous range but we can not afford to pay what Medicare won't cover. She has a Medicare replacement plan through United Healthcare and they cover only about 50% of her drug costs and have high co pays for doctors visits. She has thousands of dollars in unpaid medical bills and her doctors are threatening to stop treatment if we can not afford to pay. If she received about $200 less in Social Security she would qualify for supplemental Medicaid. I do not know what to do to help her. She is severely depressed and wants to just give up since she is suffering with no medical relief and it's breaking my heart. Is there a way to reduce Social Security payments so that she can qualify for extra assistance? Should she stop receiving Social Security altogether and go completely on Medicaid, Food Stamps, utility assistance, etc...? She just moved in with us since she has no ability to afford rent and medical care together but we can not financially support her. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
My nephew only gets $400 in SSD and $600 in an annuity. He has Medicare as primary and Horizon BC/BS for Medicaid. His prescriptions are with UH. He was having problems with an ADD med being covered. We were told to go to Office of Aging and have them go over what he gets. We found that for an extra $16 a month he could go up a tier and that med would be covered. You may want to try that. While talking to them, ask if there is a state prescription plan she maybe able to get. Also, were I live we have a place that has Pychiatrists and counselors. They work on scale and except insurances and Medicaid. Set up payment plans with her doctors.
I think you need to go with mom to your local Medicaid office and talk to a caseworker.
Also, look into a qualified income trust if she is truly over the income limit .
Is she receiving social security disability or regular social security?
I also think you may benefit from seeing an elder care lawyer.
Also, some counties have prescription drug cards, available for free. Ours does; I've never used them so I don't know how much help they are though..
Her most expensive medications are her ADD meds and her heart meds. I have contacted the pharmaceutical companies that sell these medications and they sent me a discount card but my pharmacist informed me that they could not be used in conjunction with Medicare. Her doctor took her off of the expensive blood pressure medication that was actually working for her and put her on a cheaper substitute that barely does any good.
She sees her therapist twice a week. She was originally told by the office that she had no co pay but after 5 months of billing insurance they realized that she has a $50 co pay for each visit and now has a bill over $1,500 with them. She desperately needs to be able to see her therapist but can not afford $400 a month for therapy alone on top of her other medical costs. I'm at a loss.
She is 62.
Regular Medicare would be a better option but if we discontinue the UHC plan right now, she will lose drug coverage and we were told that she would have a penalty for not having part D. I spoke with her pharmacist about how much her out of pocket drug costs would be if we dropped UHC and they would go up by around $400 so it doesn't help solve the situation.
Carelink was no help what so ever. They said that recieved too much money to qualify for anything. I can not believe $18,000 a year with nearly $10,000 a year out of pocket medical costs does not qualify for any assistance. I'm at my wits end.
Have you called the county office of aging to see if she qualifies for other help? Many areas have food pantries for non perishable items. Saving that expense can help her pay other bills. Also, some agencies offer sliding scale counseling. Can you look into that? If the medical bills are from hospitalization, has she applied for charity care? I had to do that for my son-in-law. Once he was approved, I sent copies of the approval to each doctor and they wrote off his balance. If you can share what county you live in, others may have more specific ideas.
Would original Medicare be a better option, or a different Medicare Advantage plan?
I hope the Carelink folks can give you some guidance.
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