Uninsured parent diagnosed with stage IV cancer, hospital is going to discharge despite mobility concerns due to not having insurance.
This will probably turn into a rant. Yes, I know there should of been active insurance. It would’ve existed if it was affordable. To start, my (20F) father (50M) went to the ER last week for excruciating pain via ambulance because he couldn’t walk. Obviously we live in the US, in an income based medicaid state (Virginia) , which makes his $21/hr too high income to qualify for medicaid. The insurance through his employment would not of allowed him to afford rent and similar bills, so he is uninsured. His rental is private owned and one of the most affordable units in the area.
Long story short, he was admitted and then transferred to another hospital due to cancer concerns, and was officially diagnosed with stage IV cancer over the weekend. Although the cancer treatment is primarily outpatient, given it has metastasized to his brain and the severity of his pain (lytic lesion on spine), they have started treatment while inpatient. The pain is still severe while receiving a mix of IV and oral opioids. Each time he rates it a 8-9 when scaled towards 10. However, they want to discharge him tomorrow.. while also starting a new pain medication tomorrow
My dad lives alone (I am on a lease for shared housing), no other family to assist, and we have emphasized to the doctors, palliative care, and the caseworker how there is approximately 20 outdoor steps he has to take to enter his building. He physically could not do this walk them to go to hospital. I’ve spoken with the caseworker, and the available options to assist with this require insurance. My dad doesn’t qualify for medicaid, and is currently using the rest of his PTO balance as we work on FMLA. He worked through the pain until he physically couldnt, and now its being used against him.
We are working with the financial assistance team to file for disability and they have connected us with a charity program that can help with commercial insurance premiums, but that would not be effective until May 1st and it will not backdate. Also applied for assistance with his hospital bills, no updates. The hospital doesn’t even want to involve physical therapy to assess his condition, everything is being rejected due to no insurance. I am not strong enough to assist him in going up and down the stairs, yet he also has multiple planned appointments throughout the next few weeks. I looked into local cancer programs, but I’m not having any luck since we don’t have any invoices or fit the income criteria.
What even can someone poor do in a situation like this? There is no family or friends close enough to assist. If he can’t make it to his appointments because of that, am I really stuck having to watch him deteriorate until the charity insurance program can start? Once his disability can start, I’d imagine it still wont be enough to pay bills + treatment.. even with coinsurance I’m sure it’s still going to be unbelievably expensive… no estimates yet. We don’t know how much the pain medication will be. I work full time, while also a student, now I am going to be a designated care taker. I havent worked long enough for FMLA. So many things would be easier if we werent poor. Can’t even afford my mental health because that requires time, and almost all of my mental struggles were linked to poverty; which many therapists dont understand anyway. Being poor is going to take away my dad quicker than the cancer will. I can’t believe even the caseworker is stunned at this scenario. What can we even do? Is the only option is for him to risk falling down his outdoor steps ? Couldn’t outpatient treatment reject him due to no insurance preventing as well? This feels like a dead end.. but maybe someone here has dealt with something similar.