Minimum wage worker has cancer- can not work- now what?

[librarygal]

Someone I know has been working in retail all her life. She is currently at Walmart and making just a little over minimum wage. She has no friends to speak of, a family that only talks once or twice a year and no savings. Now she has CANCER.

Walmart provided her health insurance with a huge deductible and co-payment. She has one Credit Card which she will max out to pay for the medical and living expenses that will not be covered by insurance. Though she is near the maximum on her card already. It appears that she will be to sick to work for at least six more months after alot of time in bed after major surgery.

My question is what do people in this situation do?

She is not eligible for welfare other than maybe a few hundred dollars a month.

Walmart does not provide its employees short term disability pay

Her sick leave and vacation was used up three months ago

Her family is distant and really can not help her financially

Medicare will not pay her deductibles because she has health insurance

Walmart requires that she continue to pay her insurance premiums during her Family and Medical Leave.
====================

What does society and government do for people in this situation?

 

[Chicago526]

Are there any churches or local charities that might help her out?

She could also try talking to the hospital, a friend of mine wound up with major surgery when she had NO insurance, and they cut her bill in half AND found local charities that would give her grants (this was a hospital affiliated with a religous order, that may have made a differance). She still wound up declaring bankruptcy (she also had other major debt, long story) but at least the hospital tried to work with her.

She (or you, if you can help her out) just needs to pull out the phone book and start calling every agency in your town, county, and state. There must be some type of program that could help her out.

She may want to see if her Wal-Mart is willing to do anything, maybe her fellow employees could do fundraisers for her? Maybe her HR could take this up with corporate and see if they could bend some rules or make some exceptions for her. If not, see if the local newspaper would like to do a story on her, nothing like bad press to make a major company wake up and take notice (and action).

She has to be pro-active in this, she can't sit back and wait for someone to save the day, unfortunatly that usually doesn't happen.

 

[KelNottAt]

Your local United Way may have a referral service to help people navigate this type of problem. In my area it's called "First Call for Help." Maybe there's something similar in your area.

 

[In a hurry]

Good grief, what kind of surgery puts you on your back for that long? I had 2/3's of my colon removed, and was back on my feet in 3 weeks, and worked thru chemo and radiation. Perhaps she needs to get a second opinon.

The hospital social worker should be able to help her find some options, but sometimes the only option is to just keep making payments as you can. Our "million dollar baby" left us with an outstanding hospital/doctors bill of $250,000 which took us years to pay off.

As her friend, hopefully you can be a support to her, since her family is distant. Life is hard, and sometimes downright impossible for a minimum wage worker. I hope she gets the help she needs.

 

[dcgrumpy]

Good grief, what kind of surgery puts you on your back for that long? I had 2/3's of my colon removed, and was back on my feet in 3 weeks, and worked thru chemo and radiation. Perhaps she needs to get a second opinon.

Consider yourself lucky, there are a lot of types of cancer surgeries that people never fully recover from and are never able to worka again.

 

[In a hurry]

Consider yourself lucky, there are a lot of types of cancer surgeries that people never fully recover from and are never able to worka again.

I do! But I also think that is a pretty severe prognosis, and I would want a second opinon on it.

 

[MouseWorshipin]

In major cities, the United Way's "First Call for Help" number is 211. There are many, many programs for people out there, and they are the best ones to help you sift through them all. They also have "Community Resource Guides" that list all the services. Some United Ways give them out free, some charge.

The welfare people very often give Medicaid to people who are unemployed or pretty-broke. She could look into that.

The suggestion about talking to the hospital is a good one, I think.

And if she goes to church on a regular basis, they will probably help, too.

Good Luck with all your efforts.

 

[MouseWorshipin]

Good grief, what kind of surgery puts you on your back for that long? I had 2/3's of my colon removed, and was back on my feet in 3 weeks

Different problems, different therapies, different recoveries.

 

[AllyandJack]

Check with the hospital. Sometimes, they have free care programs that will cover most or all medical expenses.

Go back to Medicaid and ask about the co-payments. My friend's DH makes $30,000 a year (at his real job....he makes another $30,000 under the table, but that's beside the point....) and they have great insurance with no deductible and $10. co-payments and Medicaid picks up all of those co-payments.

If she's not working, she should qualify for more assistance than she does now, so she shouldn't count out things like Medicaid and food stamps and section 8, etc.

 

[ead79]

She could also try contacting a local church. I know that our church has a program earmarked for giving funds to local residents who have fallen on hard times. Plus, they might be able to give her some counseling since she is facing such a tough time.

 

[In a hurry]

Different problems, different therapies, different recoveries.

I understand that, but I still believe in second opinons. I spent a year hanging at the cancer unit for myself, and 4 years hanging there with my mom. You talk to a lot of people in that time, and become involved with their lives, treatments, family, and sometimes deaths. I have just not personally come across that sort of prognosis that didn't involve a hospice involvement.

So that is where I am coming from. Maybe she has misunderstood, at which point there is all the more reason to involve a friend, and/or the hospital staff. When your brain is in tangles it is easy to hear only the worst.

 

[malibuconlee]

Walmart does not provide its employees short term disability pay


?

I feel very sorry for your friend, and other than trying to sign up for disability thru the government I'm not sure what she should do. If she goes to church she should contact her minister/priest/whatever and see what services they have to help. There have been some other wonderful suggestions here. I hope she has a speedy recovery.

I do however need to say that unless things have drastically changed in the last few years, Wal-Mart does offer short and long term disability, or have in the past. You do have to sign up and pay for them just like you do medical insurance.

I worked at Wal-Mart for several years as a young adult. So does my SIL. She didn't understand that short term disability is where maternity leave comes from. She had never signed up for it, and for her first pregnancy had to take it unpaid when they couldn't afford to.

 

[hlbtimes2]

A few things: as the others have said, talk to the hospital social worker. Try to get on SSI or SSDI (see www.socialsecurity.gov for more info). And if nothing else, run up debt and file bankruptcy when its done. I know that might not go over well with some, but sometimes you just have to do it.

 

[MouseWorshipin]

I understand that, but I still believe in second opinons. I spent a year hanging at the cancer unit for myself, and 4 years hanging there with my mom. You talk to a lot of people in that time, and become involved with their lives, treatments, family, and sometimes deaths. I have just not personally come across that sort of prognosis that didn't involve a hospice involvement.

So that is where I am coming from. Maybe she has misunderstood, at which point there is all the more reason to involve a friend, and/or the hospital staff. When your brain is in tangles it is easy to hear only the worst.

I spent years in hospice, as a nurse. Hospice is for the dying, not the very ill.

I'm now in a hospital and have seen lots of sick people there, too. And a few of my relatives have died of cancer. A good friend had a cancer that kept her down for the better part of a year. My cousin's BABY had a cancer that kept her down for 7 months.

Believe me, there are lots of folks who get sick for a long, long time.

 

[lovetheparks]

You could organize a charity event for her such as a picnic or BBQ while she's working through the red-tape with the "system".

 

[mrsltg]

Well, if she has nothing, the saying goes, "you can't get blood from a rock." She has no way to pay her medical bills. Does she own her home? Can she declare bankruptcy? She is fortunate (not the right word but I can't think of a better one) that she is self supporting. She will be eligible for aid. She needs to speak to a social worker as others have said. She will be able to find relief through various public/private resources.

Good luck to her.

 

[In a hurry]

One last attempt! I am obviously miscommunicating, and I sincerely apologize for doing so. I asked about the cancer type because I've never come across someone being laid up for so long who wasn't probably going to die, and I am seriously wondering what type of surgery/treatment combo that could be. I am not saying I know more than everyone else! I am merely suggesting a second opinion. I don't understand the offense of that. I am big on second opinions. I also believe that a patient should always have an advocate, because it is difficult in times of trauma to take in all of the info. I would misss entire conversations when DD was in NICU, or when I was in cancer treatment. I often only heard the worst because I was scared. And often the worst wasn't what actually occured.

If I've offended the OP, I apologize. I hope your friend gets the treatment and assistance she needs.

 

[Christine]

One last attempt! I am obviously miscommunicating, and I sincerely apologize for doing so. I asked about the cancer type because I've never come across someone being laid up for so long who wasn't probably going to die, and I am seriously wondering what type of surgery/treatment combo that could be. I am not saying I know more than everyone else! I am merely suggesting a second opinion. I don't understand the offense of that. I am big on second opinions. I also believe that a patient should always have an advocate, because it is difficult in times of trauma to take in all of the info. I would misss entire conversations when DD was in NICU, or when I was in cancer treatment. I often only heard the worst because I was scared. And often the worst wasn't what actually occured.

If I've offended the OP, I apologize. I hope your friend gets the treatment and assistance she needs.

In a hurry--I understand what you are asking and I'm curious too. I am also a cancer survivor and I know that when you get the diagnosis initially, your thoughts are always the worst and you immediately think that you will be out of work for awhile. This is not always the case (even when you *want* to be out of work ). I know that type of cancer I had caused me to miss work in 3 week increments, here and there, so I didn't have to lose my job. I have other coworkers that have also been out in "bouts" for various things like colon cancer and breast cancer.

Hopefully, this person is just having a knee-jerk reaction to the diagnosis of "The Big C". Most people respond that way--it is very traumatic. But I do agree with you that most of the time you don't have to lose everything, unless it is a more lethal type of cancer. So far, no one has said.