help

Hi all,

I am normally against people making their beers FS unless something serious has happened in their life. Well, my wife was bit by a fox which had rabies (killed it and had it tested). So, she needs to go through the rabies series (which is 4-5 shots the day of at the bite location) followed by 6 more shots during the series. We just found out that out insurance is not going to pay for any of it and it is going to run between $5000-$7000 out of pocket.

Is there a website I can put some of my bottles up FS to help pay for the treatment? Like I said normally I don't usually agree w/ FS but when in time real life needs to come first and paying for her treatment is more important than my beer.


Thanks everyone.

 

Thank you for the well wishes and thanks for the information. I was considering a LIF but i wasn't too sure if I should considering the others are for major medical issues like cancer/passing of family members and wasn't sure us paying out of pocket for the rabies treatment would be appropriate.

I didn't want to offend anyone as some of those LIFs are amazing things (which I have donated to before).

 

After a discussion with a friend who ran one of the biggest LIFs here on BA I will be doing one for my wife. I'm going to wait until I have a bill in my hand to start it so everyone knows it's legit and that they will be donating for a good cause. This bill is a good portion of our yearly income and is going to make things extremely financially difficult. I will put up my entire cellar in 4-6 bottle boxes. Everyone please keep an eye out for the "Helping Sara LIF".

Thanks for everyone and their support.

 

She was walking to her car and dropped her keys (there is a dumpster about 50ft from where she was parked but it was the middle of the day). When she went to pick them up the fox was apparently under the car and it bit her between her thumb and pointer finger (that "meaty" part of the hand). The fox broke the skin and she had several puncture wounds. Since I teach pathogenic microbiology, I am a bit more aware of the normal "joe" and know what happens if you don't get treated so I immediately drove her to the emergency room. We ended up waiting for 5 hours because they didn't have the medication there and had to call another hospital to have it sent over.

We called animal control and they set up traps and caught the fox about 48 hours later (they assumed it was the same one) killed it and tested it's blood for rabies. It came back positive so if we didn't get the shots it could've been 10000000x worse if we weren't proactive about seeking treatment immediately.

Overall, it was a nightmare and when they told me that insurance denied the claim I immediately refiled an appeal and they denied it again.

I have one more appeal that I am in the process of making that might help, also the hospital has some programs that might be able to help give us a break on the cost. If non of that pans out then we are talking about 18-20% of our annual income.

Sorry to write a novel to answer your question. I am waiting until I have a final bill in my hand before I make the decision to do a LIF.

 

From what I understand and what was explained to me was that since my family deductible hasn't been met for the year I am responsible for 60% of the hospital visit (The ER/Dr. fees) BUT the killer part is that they won't cover the shots themselves because the medication is not covered by my prescription or medical plans. That's how it was explained to me by the customer service rep and his supervisor. Even if they cover a portion of it we are going to be hit us pretty hard financially.

I will start a LIF when I get my final bill so I can post it and show everyone what we are going to be up against. I'm hoping we will catch some breaks but who knows. I'm stressed but I can only wait for right now.

 

Thanks Zeke! I'm not 100% sure why I even bother having insurance when things like this happen any they fight me on it. I pay almost $500/mo for my family insurance and now they fight me on something that is/was out of our control. We'll see. Their billing department was closed this week so i should have it next week. For now, just trying to relax and spent time with family. Hope your holiday is going well.

 

They are evil in my opinion. They take about $6k a yr from me for coverage for my wife and I and when something like this happens they basicially say "tough shit" and leave us to figure it out on our own. The people at the hospital are trying to get us into some program that might lower the cost but we aren't sure because i "make too much money" which is a load of crap but they are trying which is really nice.

 

Just an update: I am working with the hospital to try and lower our bill and/or set up a payment plan (even if it's something i have to pay forever). The hospital has been working hard with us to try to make this happen, however, per their guidelines I technically make too much money for it BUT they are trying to figure it out (they have been so helpful). The insurance on the other hand is still going through my appeal and I'm not sure what/when that decision will be made. I just want everyone to know I appreciate all the kind words, well wishes, and help that has been offered to myself and Sara. I will be working non-stop to try to manage this on my own and will only start an LIF when my other options are exhausted. Thank you all again for everything.

 

It's something like 38k but yes b/c we don't have dependents it falls into this higher bracket that is technically too high BUT the hospital is trying to work with us so there is hope.

 

I know! I never thought I'd be "making too much @ ~38k" to get help from the hospital but it's what they told us. However, they are going to try to help. I appreciate you wishing us luck. I'm hoping they will find a way and the insurance will get their head out of their asses and figure out they need to pay out the claim.

I'm going to exhaust all avenues before I run a LIF even though there have been tons of amazing BAs who have reached out, I want to fight them until I'm out of options.

 

First bills are starting to roll in. First one is a relatively cheap one at ~$250 for the Urgent Care provider (which is where we went first because that's our primary Dr.). I'm keeping a close eye out for the big ones coming. I am waiting to hear back on my last appeal so I may not get that bill for a bit longer but I am still fighting to get the insurance to pay out. I will keep everyone in the loop.

Also, I want to thank everyone for the well wishes and prayers. My wife finished her series of shots and will be just fine which is all that really matters. Thanks again and keep an eye out for the possible "Helping Sara LIF"

cheers everyone!