Appointment in 2 weeks. Broke + Insurance Mess. Cancel appt?

[Elizabeth7]

I've been trying to get an appointment with the new neurology group in town for months. After pestering my PCP, who just wanted to either do nothing or send me back to the same useless neurologist I saw a few years ago, I was finally scheduled for an appointment May 7th.

I'm thinking I should probably just cancel the appointment, though. I've been trying to save for an MRI for months since neurologists almost always order MRIs, but expense after expense keeps coming up in my life, and I haven't been able to. I just found out that I'm going to have to find some way to come up with $1,000 for the ONE class I'm taking this summer because they only give loans if you're at least half-time. So an MRI is pretty much off the table, and I'm thinking the appointment will just be a waste of a $20 copay without one since the neuro can't diagnose me by just looking at me.

On top of that, I turn 26 a week and a half after that appointment and will no longer be able to stay on my father's insurance. I have no idea what is going to happen with my insurance situation after that, and I'm guessing there's a good chance I won't be covered for any future appointments with this doctor.

I'm so frustrated. I tried to get in to see the neuro sooner knowing my insurance situation, but I had to keep going back to my PCP because he insisted all I needed was a pain killer for my headaches.

Is there any point in going to the appointment?

[Seasha]

HI Elizabeth-

Before you decide about going on not, please check this link from MSAA (MS Assoc. of Am)
It's an MRI Access Fund that you could apply for. They will pay in full for those who do not have medical insurance and have low/moderate income.

"Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a valuable tool for diagnosing multiple sclerosis and tracking its progression. Both aspects are critically important in helping people find answers, monitor disease activity, and make informed treatment and healthcare decisions. Unfortunately, many people do not have the insurance coverage or financial means necessary to acquire an MRI to confirm a diagnosis or evaluate the status of their illness. MSAA has created the MRI Access Fund to fulfill these important needs."

http://www.mymsaa.org/msaa-help/mri/

It's certainly worth a try! Hope this helps and good luck!

[Elizabeth7]

HI Elizabeth-

Before you decide about going on not, please check this link from MSAA (MS Assoc. of Am)
It's an MRI Access Fund that you could apply for. They will pay in full for those who do not have medical insurance and have low/moderate income.

"Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a valuable tool for diagnosing multiple sclerosis and tracking its progression. Both aspects are critically important in helping people find answers, monitor disease activity, and make informed treatment and healthcare decisions. Unfortunately, many people do not have the insurance coverage or financial means necessary to acquire an MRI to confirm a diagnosis or evaluate the status of their illness. MSAA has created the MRI Access Fund to fulfill these important needs."

http://www.mymsaa.org/msaa-help/mri/

It's certainly worth a try! Hope this helps and good luck!

Thanks for sharing the link. Unfortunately, I never qualify for things like that because I live with my father, who makes decent money (but doesn't help with my medical expenses). They always factor in the salaries of anyone who lives with you regardless of your age.

[jreagan70]

Hi Elizabeth:

Your health is the most important thing, so KEEP the appointment with the neurologist. You can work on ways to get an MRI after that.

Also, don't give up on looking into the various ways to get help paying for an MRI, because you won't have insurance after that appointment, so you may qualify for help you didn't qualify for before. Often, applicants are only required to disclose other means of support. If you're no longer on your parents' insurance, they aren't supporting you and they aren't paying your medical bills, you may not even have to mention them on an application.

Before you drive somewhere, do you wait to leave the house until you're absolutely sure that every traffic light will be green (as if that were even possible)? Or do you just start out driving incrementally, and you stop at red lights when they come up?

Going to the doctor can be the same way. Keep your appointment (you worked hard enough to get it!), and make some progress. Worry about crossing the next bridge (or passing the next traffic light) when you come to it. You won't know how much help you can get with MRIs and lab tests until you come to it. Good luck on your way!

[JerryD]

Don't cancel the appointment ! It sounds like your PCP is not on your side. You may need to find a new primary. But as long as you can make the neurologist appointment, you should keep it. You seem to be in a tough situation. You should make contact with your local chapter of the NMSS and MSAA. You are in the U.S., right? Follow Seasha's advice. Good luck

[Mamabug]

I agree with those who counsel you to keep your appointment. As you said, it is sometimes difficult to get in with a new neurology group, and you've done that now. It can only be in your future benefit to be already on their patient list, even if, at this time, you are unable to get an MRI due to financial and insurance reasons.

Thanks for sharing the link. Unfortunately, I never qualify for things like that because I live with my father, who makes decent money (but doesn't help with my medical expenses). They always factor in the salaries of anyone who lives with you regardless of your age.

Regarding living with your father, I wonder if there is a way that non-married people can apply as a second household, living under the same roof? I don't know anything about that, but, it seems that maybe it might be a possibility. Perhaps your local NMSS or MSAA could advise you on whether that is a possibility, and how to go about it, if it is.

[Elizabeth7]

Thanks for the responses. I'll consider keeping the appointment just for the sake of having my name in the group's system. It's just always so embarrassing and frustrating to tell a doctor I'm not doing what they requested because I don't have the money to do so.

I doubt I'd be able to apply as a second household. I think the household income rule is usually pretty set in stone, but I can ask. Plus, it sounds like I'd have to get the doctor to say he suspects MS...I don't know how realistic that is considering so many doctors seem quick to dismiss multi-symptoms as things like anxiety.

Yeah, my PCP sucks. I've had several other ones who similarly sucked, though, so I don't really care to try out anymore!

[Elizabeth7]

I went to the appointment. I liked the doctor more than the other neuros I saw, but I imagine if my MRI comes back without any signs of problems again, it'll be the same old dismissal story. He said he wants to see if there are any indications of neurofibromatosis on my MRI since my mom had it. Unless something has changed since my last MRI, there aren't any, though. I don't have the outward symptoms of NF such as cafe au lait spots on my skin, but he said it's possible to still have a form of it that affects my nervous system since the expressivity of it is very variable. I had them schedule the MRI a while out so I can try to figure out my insurance situation and/or save money...not sure if I'll be able to work things out.

[Mamabug]

Hang in there. Sometimes, it just takes awhile for symptoms and test results to show enough to be able to make any dx, let alone an accurate one. Hope that this new neuro will find enough to dx something, so that you can be treated for whatever it is that you have. But, if not now, surely whatever disease you have will show itself more clearly in the future.

In the meantime, there are often meds that can be rx-ed that can help you with symptom management.

Thanks for keeping us posted. I always am ready to hear what is happening next with your story.