health insurance question

[majormana]

I can not seem to get health insurance to get more then diagonses of szs via the er were i live in northren indiana the nero wont see u with out referal from primary physian wich you cant get with out health insurance need to know of any suggestions besides hip,medicare,medicaid. I will be 23 in 1 week thanks in advance.ponder:

 

[stilldancing_98]

Hi Major, welcome here to the forum. You said you were diagnosed? You do have seizures? I'm sorry that I'm being nosey . Just trying to get to the bottom of this and get you some help.Call your Primary Care Dr. first. They can give you ideas on who to see.You have to be seen.

 

[majormana]

maybe i shoulda been more pacfic not sure how here i was when wrote this. The er told me have szs thats all I know I have no primary dr. I went to clinic dr cuz couldnt afford anything else he was cheap but did nothing part of why I got to find out in er. do to fact have no primary dr can not know if there is reason to szs(hope am makeing some sence) no insurance equals no primary dr equals no nero cuz the 1 in this area is picky.

 

[skillefer]

Hi major! Welcome to CWE. Wow! Honestly, I don't know what to say about your predicament. You might end up checking if there are other neurologists in surrounding communities. In the meantime, start keeping a journal of how much sleep you get, what you eat and drink as well as when and how much. Also jot down any stress you're under and any "spells", odd feelings, migraines, or seizures that you might have and how long they last. Make sure you take this journal to your neurologist. Also, start taking some proactive steps like making sure that you get at least 7 hours of sleep each night, eating healthy, cutting back on coffee, and cutting back on alcohol. I hope this helps.

 

[stilldancing_98]

Where did you say you lived?What state I mean. Because I think the epilepsy foundation should be able to direct you to a place where you can get help quickly.

 

[joan]

Hello Major.. good to see you.

I asked Major to stop by here to see if anyone had any info to help. From what I understand she went to an ER in a seizure, was told she had E and sent home. She has no insurance and no way to get meds IF a Dr gave her a presciption. I am new to this and cant imagine this can happen so I thought maybe somone would know a way to help her. She is in Indiana.

Thank you,
joan*

 

[sixpack]

Hello Major.. good to see you.

I asked Major to stop by here to see if anyone had any info to help. From what I understand she went to an ER in a seizure, was told she had E and sent home. She has no insurance and no way to get meds IF a Dr gave her a presciption. I am new to this and cant imagine this can happen so I thought maybe somone would know a way to help her. She is in Indiana.

Thank you,
joan*

Major I'm sorry you have to go through this.

Joan--yes, if you don't have insurance then you have to pay for the meds up front and if you don't have the money, then you can't get the meds. My sister started with neurological symptoms for atleast a year (actually probably longer) but she didn't have insurance and tried to ignore some pretty substantial problems. This summer she had a seizure and her hubby called the ambulance. It turns out she had a frontal lobe meningioma (benign brain tumor). It was very large and been growing 3-5yrs. As I said, no insurance so you only go to the doc when it's an emergency, ya know. Well now she has atleast a $200K med bill. Likely it will never get paid.

Major----My suggestion is to look into getting medicaid. It very definitely depends on how much $$$ you make as to whether you will qualify. The primary reason a specialist, like a neurologist, requires a referral to see a patient is because often insurance won't pay for it without a referral from the primary. It greatly depends on the insurance policy one has. In our situation we don't need referrals, but many folks do. If you can't get on medicaid, you may look into some religious groups or other community outreach programs and see if they can help you out. The only other option you have is to go back to the E.R. everytime you have a seizure. I think it's odd the ER didn't set you up on a beginning dose of meds though. I certainly hope Obama will be able to get some type of health coverage for folks that are in your situation.:rose:

 

[darkmarkshark]

Next time you go the ER ask to be referred to a neurologist, and they'll assign you one who works with them

 

[majormana]

let me just straighten couple things out. I have tried with medicaid and all listed in orinagal post basicly getting told off by those pepole. I have seziures got diagonses at ER and they gave me a nero # the problem is the nero wont execpt that reffral He only execpt it from primary care dr wich need insurance to get hope that clares things up.:e:

 

[sixpack]

let me just straighten couple things out. I have tried with medicaid and all listed in orinagal post basicly getting told off by those pepole. I have seziures got diagonses at ER and they gave me a nero # the problem is the nero wont execpt that reffral He only execpt it from primary care dr wich need insurance to get hope that clares things up.:e:

I know that Medicaid can be a tricky system to navigate. If you don't cross every T and dot every i, you aren't treated well:evil2:. My daughter is disabled. Once she turned 18, we were finally able (after a lot of persistance and jumping through many bureaucratic hoops) to get her on the disability medicaid---it is her secondary insurance. Medicaid definitely has a lot of regulations and built in roadblocks:soap: If, for whatever reason, that avenue is closed to you, I would still try for religious groups and/or community outreach organizations. If they don't have direct monies to allocate to you, they often have advocates that can help you find help in your area. Also, as Skillefer mentioned, look around your area, via phone or internet, for other neuros. Stilldancing also mentioned the epilepsy foundation? I understand insurance is expensive, as my sister can't afford it either. However you don't have to have insurance to have a primary doctor. A primary doc will see uninsured people, they expect payment upfront though. Which, I know, is pretty much your "Catch 22".

Honestly though, I would really hate that you just end up at the ER time and again. That would really suck and is certainly not the best way to keep yourself healthy.

I'll keep you in my thoughts