Profile picture for user Shannon
shannon j. Caregiver

Finding New Insurance with an LVAD

Believe it or not I did not drop off the face of the earth. Jason and I have had a few hard weeks. First off I will say that Jason is still doing great. We found out I few weeks back (January 9,2012)that Jason has been place on hold on the Heart Transplant list because his Insurance had ended. Jason?s Insurance from work ended October 16th. My first fear was not the money. It was that anyway a perfect donor match could come in for Jason and he wouldn?t get a call. This made me extremely sad. Jason always has an awesome way of looking at things though he said well it?s the ways it?s supposed to be right now, there?s no sense in getting mad at people, it?s not their fault. Which I know he is right, but still I wasn?t going to sit back to see what happened next, I had to get my honey some insurance to get back on that list!

First it was hard for me to comprehend that it would be so hard to get Jason help through the state.Were told he made too much. Now while I do understand the state insurance is for low income families what I don?t understand is that why Jason can?t get insurance. They actually said if he made X amount of money a month, and his house payment was the same amount, he still wouldn?t qualify. I just don?t get that. He has worked since he was 15 years of age, and within that time has paid his share of taxes. It really just broke my heart.

Jason is still waiting on the Social Security Disability Insurance, but we were told even if and when he is awarded the Social Security Disability he would still have to wait 24 months to get Medicare. So I kept on pushing forward.

It wasn?t until I called the Governor?s Office here in Virginia that I got some hopeful news. The Insurance that I found out about is called PCIP. One of the requirements is that you must have a pre-existing condition to get this insurance and you must be without insurance for six months before applying. The great thing about this program is that it is not based on income, it is based on age. Now, while he can?t apply for this insurance until April, for us it is still a light at the end of the tunnel.

We just started receiving bills last week that were sent to the old insurance by mistake, so as of right now he medical cost goes back to October 21, 2011. As you can imagine, they are astronomical.

We have to continue to have faith that God is leading us in this direction for a reason. Although I know it is hard sometimes, we both know that in the end God is watching over us.