Health Insurance

[jlm76]

Hi I am aksing questions on behalf of a friend whose husband was just diagnosed she is too overwhelmed/sad/stressed to do it herself right now, hopefully she will be able to join soon. She is going to need the support:

My husband was diagnosed yesterday and told to quit his job immediately. He will lose his health insurance. I dont know if i can add him to mine since it will be pre-existing. He is applying for SSDI but I was told that can take months. Does anyone know what I should do about health insurance? Can a spouse get Medicaid or Medicare if the other spouse is working?

Thanks in advance for any advice or sharing your experience.

 

[scaredwifetx]

Hello,

My husband is newly diagnosed and we are going through the same thing. He can go to the SS office and apply and they will be very helpful to make sure it is coded correctly for ALS and get the paperwork started. It should only take a couple of months to get approval but will still have a five month waiting period until benefits kick in and he gets the Medicare. if she already has insurance through work she should be able to add him until the Medicare kicks. The new laws for work state you cannot deny insurance to an employee or their family based on pre-existing conditions. As stated at the beginning of this post we are also new to this but this forum has guided me through this process very well and they will have lots of information and support for your friend. Let her know being overwhelmed, shocked, stressed and sad is what happens to all of us but everyone on here will do their best to guide her. Any questions she asked will be answered.

Also, he should get Medicare under the approved disability once approved and the waiting period is over even if she is working. Medicaid is different though and it goes by family income. Tell her to register on here and ask any questions she has and she will get a lot of info and it will be better info than she will get anywhere else. There is a lot of experience on this forum and people who truly care. Thanks for being a great friend to her. She needs all the support she can get.

 

[Diane H]

Why was he told to quit work immediately? There is no reason to quit until he wants to. Often it is fatigue rather than weakness that makes working too hard, but the timing is up to him.

 

[jlm76]

Why was he told to quit work immediately? There is no reason to quit until he wants to. Often it is fatigue rather than weakness that makes working too hard, but the timing is up to him.

He is a welder and stands all day, he has already lost muscle in one arm/hand and can't walk without a cane, falls and has trouble getting up etc. I guess he was diagnosed later than most people, when it started in his leg he thought he hurt it in softball and the arm he thought was just from welding didn't really consider something like ALS.

 

[jlm76]

Hello,

My husband is newly diagnosed and we are going through the same thing. He can go to the SS office and apply and they will be very helpful to make sure it is coded correctly for ALS and get the paperwork started. It should only take a couple of months to get approval but will still have a five month waiting period until benefits kick in and he gets the Medicare. if she already has insurance through work she should be able to add him until the Medicare kicks. The new laws for work state you cannot deny insurance to an employee or their family based on pre-existing conditions. As stated at the beginning of this post we are also new to this but this forum has guided me through this process very well and they will have lots of information and support for your friend. Let her know being overwhelmed, shocked, stressed and sad is what happens to all of us but everyone on here will do their best to guide her. Any questions she asked will be answered.

Also, he should get Medicare under the approved disability once approved and the waiting period is over even if she is working. Medicaid is different though and it goes by family income. Tell her to register on here and ask any questions she has and she will get a lot of info and it will be better info than she will get anywhere else. There is a lot of experience on this forum and people who truly care. Thanks for being a great friend to her. She needs all the support she can get.

Thanks so much! I will forward this info to her, she will appreciate it.

 

[Atsugi]

Lots of possible solutions for your friend.

First, your friend should look into COBRA. COBRA gives workers and their families who lose their health benefits the right to choose to continue group health benefits provided by their group health plan for limited periods of time under certain circumstances such as voluntary or involuntary job loss.

Have your friend go to healthcare (dot) gov look into ObamaCare. You can enroll now if you have certain life changes — like getting married, having a baby, losing other coverage, or moving — or if you qualify for Medicaid or CHIP. The site will give you choices of insurance plans at various costs. And if you qualify, there are subsidies. You'll still be accepted with Pre-existing conditions

If they're low income, they can apply for Medicaid. Google their website.

When applying for Social Security, I recommend ALS patients have a letter of diagnosis from their doctor, and attach a cover letter in bold type so that it is obvious to all that this is a rapidly terminal disease that must be expedited under the rules of TERI program for rapidly terminal diseases. Then, instead of investigating your claim for approval, SS will approve the claim quickly and investigate its validity later. In our case, we were approved within weeks and began receiving SSDI checks quickly. Medicare was not delayed in our case. Medicare A (hospital coverage) is free, and Medicare B (coverage for doctor's bills) costs about $100 a month.

Did this ALS patient serve in the military for at least 90 days? Research showed there is so much ALS in the veteran community that the law "presumes" all ALS cases of veterans were caused by military service. It's a "presumptive" illness, so the veteran is quickly and easily approved without the usual delay. Again, I recommend a bold cover letter. The VA has excellent treatment and generous cash benefits. Call 800-827-1000.

--Mike

 

[Atsugi]

I posted lengthy details of several possible solutions, but the system sent it to the moderator. The moderator appears to be AWOL the last couple of days.

 

[Diane H]

He is a welder and stands all day, he has already lost muscle in one arm/hand and can't walk without a cane, falls and has trouble getting up etc. I guess he was diagnosed later than most people, when it started in his leg he thought he hurt it in softball and the arm he thought was just from welding didn't really consider something like ALS.

Falling down is a good reason to stop working! Just wanted to make sure he wasn't getting weird medical orders.

 

[notBrad]

I posted lengthy details of several possible solutions, but the system sent it to the moderator. The moderator appears to be AWOL the last couple of days.

I had an innocuous little post that went to mod and as of yesterday still hadn't shown up...

Falling down is a good reason to stop working! Just wanted to make sure he wasn't getting weird medical orders.

Especially if you're a welder!