The Financial Cost of Liver Disease

The financial costs when living with liver disease can be substantial. I can’t imagine the total amount I have spent since being diagnosed. I do have a fairly good health insurance that helps cover costs of scans, MRIs, lab work, etc. However, there is still a rather high portion that is left for me to pay. I will be totally transparent here, as I know I am not the only one going through this...

My mom's experiences with medical costs

Growing up with my mom in and out of hospitals (doctor visits, scans, testing, etc), our mailbox looked like a direct link to the hospital for bills. I remember my mom crying as she sat at our kitchen table opening up these mountains of bills. I would hear her on the phone with offices trying to set up payment plans with them, then marking it all on a very large spreadsheet.

How I cope with medical bills

Things are a bit simpler now on the computer, however, I find myself also sitting and crying as I am entering in my own personal medical bills. It is a very overwhelming feeling and being on a limited income, I do worry about how I am going to make ends meet.

One thing my mom instilled in me is communicating with all these facilities as soon as I get a bill about setting up a reasonable payment plan. Of course, there has been several times that I fail to keep track of a bill and either lose it or never got it, but then a lovely nasty-gram from a collection agency comes. More than anything, I hate dealing with those places and will do all I can to make sure none of my accounts get turned over to one. They have a job to do, I understand, however they are non-caring about reasons and one is more likely to be understanding dealing directly with the hospital or doctor’s office first. Do everything in your power to just communicate your situation to the facility so you don’t have to add the nasty stress of a collection agency. Having a gruff person who does not understand your situation adds so much stress. Try to avoid it.

Ask for help

If you are too far along in your liver disease, ask your spouse or someone close to you to help you with this. Also know that every facility has a hardship department that can help you find means to take care of your bill or even give you a grant to eliminate your bill. Don’t be too prideful to ask for help. EVERYONE has gone through this at some point.