Are Chemotherapy treatments covered by Medicare?

[Auntie Bush]

We don't have any prescription insurance...Will we have to pay for them out of pocket or will it be included as part of the hospital expenses?

Does anyone have any idea of how much they costs?

[serryjw]

1. Medicare will cover Chemo.......

and any surgery or meds

cost a sh*tload.....$100K!

12 years ago my chemo was over $80K

[ogradda]

2. hospice

contact your local hospice they will help you with all that.

[serryjw]

4. I don't think so.........

n/t

[ogradda]

9. see post #3

n/t

[ogradda]

3. what my fathers medicare wouldn't cover

they paid for. all of it. it was unfucking real what my parents would have had to spend.

[Lefta Dissenter]

5. I am sure the treatment cost

is entirely dependent on the type of chemo the patient is receiving. My son's treatments were covered by insurance, with some treatments costing $2,500 and some much more than that.

Our insurance company said that they had to drop coverage of my son when he started chemo. He was too sick to go to school (and his white count was down, so the doctor wouldn't have let him go anyway), so since he wasn't a full-time student, the insurance company informed us that he would no longer be covered. We had to go with COBRA, which was extremely expensive. But at least then we had coverage for the treatments and the post-treatment follow-ups.

[Auntie Bush]

15. Hi WI Clarkie. Hope your son is well on the road to recovery.

[Lefta Dissenter]

16. awww, thanks

He just had his five-year checkup, and everything looks great!

Of course, now he's about to turn 24, so he'll be on his own for insurance. I've been told by a couple of insurance companies that we shouldn't even waste our time calling around - nobody will take him, so we should just plan on going with the high-risk policies... and I've been too scared to call to find out what premiums start at THERE!

Thanks for the good wishes :pals: I consider our family fortunate that our challenges have not been insurmountable. I wish the same could be said for ALL families. :(

[yo-yo-ma]

6. there's an area of "it depends"

but, if you have a cancer diagnosis, chemotherapy or whatever medical treatment is needed will be covered. Sometimes individuals with large savings and no other insurance may be asked to contribute some.
This is a question that the hospital should be able to answer - if you don't get a straight answer, ask to talk with a hospital social worker. She will be able to direct to an answer.

I am sorry

[Auntie Bush]

8. Thanks all. I hope you are right yo-yo-ma

[welshTerrier2]

7. hope this helps ...

here are a few resources you probably should check out:

call the National Cancer Institute with any questions you have ... their phone number is: 800-4-Cancer and their website is: http://www.nci.nih.gov/ ... i highly recommend giving them a call ... they are very helpful and very knowledgeable ...

for financial assistance: http://cis.nci.nih.gov/fact/8_3.htm

chemo guide: http://www.nci.nih.gov/cancertopics/chemotherapy-and-you

and the best anti-nausea drug: Zofran

good luck ... hope some of this helps ...

[Auntie Bush]

10. Thanks for all that information Terrior2. I knew I count on DU.

I'll get on it right away. MDH was just diagnosed and I didn't want to further upset him by asking that question.

I'm sorry Terrior2...obviously you've needed the information too.
I hope all is well with you.

[serryjw]

11. I will second this........

and the best anti-nausea drug: Zofran


DO NOT allow chemo with out it..in recent years I have talked to many whom had chemo and no told them this existed.......F*CK THEM! I was a stage 3 Breast Cancer with 9 months of heavy duty chemo and NEVER got sick......
Namaste

[welshTerrier2]

12. Zofran

my sister-in-law has been treated for lymphoma ... i did hundreds of hours of research on all sorts of websites ... can't remember the url but i read several thousand posts on a variety of cancer-related bulletin boards ... zofran was absolutely the drug of choice ...

apparently many places don't prescribe Zofran because it's fairly expensive ... we've told friends about Zofran who "went along" (like sheep) when their doctors prescribed something else ... they ended up having real issues with nausea ... it's not necessary ... tell them you want Zofran BEFORE you begin your treatment program ... some people even take it before each chemo treatment rather than afterwards ... make sure it will be available to you ... sometimes you have to push a little to get what you want ...

[Lefta Dissenter]

17. HA,

my son got almost all the way through chemo without throwing up ONCE... until the dog threw up on the living room floor... and when my son saw (and heard) that, he was done for :puke:

[serryjw]

18. Thank You.....100% agree

I also know people whom were given a cheap imitation and it didn't work. Zofran is the best...and you are probably right it must be more expensive.

I was infused BEFORE each chemo every 3 weeks. I would imagine it depends on the chemo protocol.My experience is when you come loaded with knowledge they LISTEN.

[Auntie Bush]

14. Im so sorry serryjh. I hope you are OK now.

[serryjw]

19. So far so good!

Thanks for asking....had a great surgeon and oncologist. We were very aggressive in treatment and no re-occurrences. Considering in 1992 stage 3 Breast Cancer was a death sentence with a 40% living 5 years!.......12 years later I'm still kicking!...and ornery as hell!

[likesmountains 52]

13. Chemo

Chemotherapy is covered by Medicare, the physician bill will only be covered if you have Medicare Part B which costs additional money. Everyone over 65 (pretty much) has Part A, not everyone chooses to get part B. Hospice DOES NOT cover chemotherapy, they will pay your bills once you stop treatment for your disease. Good luck,