Riding The Wave – Multiple Myeloma

“We were prepared for death, we were not prepared for disability.” – Lori Puente

A good article (hat tip, Pat Killingsworth) at Everyday Health talking about the high cost of treating Multiple Myeloma. Beth Morgan, who runs the Myeloma ListServ (Thanks Beth!) offers some her experience with the high costs she has encountered.

I am not a proponent of universal, government run, healthcare. I am a proponent to finding ways for all who want coverage to get it and I think the government can help in that effort. I am also not a proponent of FREE healthcare.

Dave and I have probably outlaid an additional $15K a year since his diagnosis in 2008. I expect that to go down this year since we are not having long stays in Little Rock (knock wood!). But our annual costs will still be significant. However, when I look at what the insurance company has paid, what they do cover, I consider us quite lucky to have paid so little, though it seems so much… if you get my drift. I don’t know what the answers are to these big questions. I know that there are many who are not in a position to pay thousands of dollars a year in co-pays. I think perhaps we should all take a good hard look at why we aren’t prepared. More and more Americans have health issues, not just cancer, that need attention on a regular basis and it can cost a lot even with decent health insurance.

I remember when our healthcare benefits coordinator at Dave’s job told us we had a 2 million dollar cap and didn’t need to worry about ever hitting it… now I look at it and say, “are you kidding me?”  Dave won’t have one problem hitting that figure should he relapse, not one out of breath step running across that finish line!

Multiple Myeloma is extremely expensive to treat. With our last of two children graduating college this May, we are working hard to find ways to lessen our financial obligations and be better prepared for the future, whatever it holds. As a Mom, I think about things like, “Will we be able to help our kids when they get married, buy a home, when they have children of their own? Will we be able to retire? Will we have to file bankruptcy?” Many things to worry about… but instead, I am grateful for our days together and we keep working on it and taking it one step at a time.

You might or might not find this humorous, but a couple of months ago while I was getting ready for the day, Dave announced to me that I had a year and half to bump him off. It was a pretty non-sequitar statement. I said, “What? What are you talking about, bump you off!” He smiled and said, “My term life insurance is up in an year and half if you want to bump me off you need to do it before then.” We both laughed hilariously, then I said, “Dave, am I going to be OK?” Sounding a bit like a late night insurance commercial. He said yes. But I don’t know if I believe him or not. 🙂

Anyway, great article (here), check it out. And if you need financial assistance it looks like there are some options.

Tags: beth morgan, costs of myeloma, financial assistance, insurance, Pat Killingsworth