{"id":12555,"date":"2023-05-10T14:45:15","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T14:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dialysispatients.org\/?p=12555"},"modified":"2024-03-29T01:09:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T01:09:17","slug":"local-view-time-to-close-the-medigap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dialysispatients.org\/news\/local-view-time-to-close-the-medigap\/","title":{"rendered":"Local View: Time to close the Medigap"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Oct. 10, 2018 marked the start of an incredibly difficult period for my family. That was the day my husband Steve left our home in North Platte to move to North Dakota \u2013 more than 10 hours away \u2013 just so we could pay for the medical care I needed to fight multiple sclerosis.\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I was diagnosed with MS more than 20 years ago while working as a registered nurse. Its progression caused changes in my employment \u2013 from a clinic nurse and public health nurse to a sedentary position reviewing Medicare files.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The disease\u2019s progression eventually forced me to stop working altogether. My job provided our health insurance coverage, which ended upon my inability to work. Going on Medicare was not enough either, because it only covered 80%\u00a0 of my treatment costs, while the rest fell on us. And because I was under 65 when my MS forced me to stop working, we could not purchase a supplementary Medigap plan that would make up the remaining costs.<\/p>\n

This put us at enormous risk. If I had to be admitted to the hospital for any reason during a 60-day benefit period \u2013 potentially as many as six times per year \u2013 we would have received a $1,600 bill for the first night of each hospital stay.<\/p>\n

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Steve and I decided we simply could not risk draining our retirement savings in the hope I would not get sick, so we decided together that Steve would close his law practice and look for a new job that would provide health insurance to cover the portion of my care that Medicare did not. My inability to purchase a Medigap plan is what eventually forced us to live apart for a year and a half while he worked in Fargo, North Dakota.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Weekend trips home were not feasible for Steve, so we had to rely on daily phone check-ins instead. I also had to count on the help of friends and family for countless tasks that MS prevented me from doing. I could not even change a light bulb because falling was too great a risk, and we had to hire help for yard work and snow removal. When Steve\u2019s job in Fargo ended, we paid for COBRA coverage until I turned 65 and finally qualified for Medigap coverage.<\/p>\n

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This problem is not limited to MS patients. People with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and End Stage Renal Disease also face a similar predicament. The effect this problem has for kidney patients hits especially close to home, as both of my brothers had kidney disease and transplants before they passed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We need to stop treating Medicare patients who are under 65 differently just because of their age. They did not choose their condition, and it is wrong to limit their options because they got sick at a young age.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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States all around us have already addressed this issue by requiring Medigap insurers to make their plans available to those under 65 with disabilities. Missouri first took action all the way back in 1998, Kansas and South Dakota followed suit in 1999, and Colorado in 2003.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If we had lived in any of those states when I had to stop working, I could have gotten coverage and we never would have been apart so long.<\/div>\n
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No family should have to experience what Steve and I went through, and the Nebraska Legislature can fix this by passing LB32. Introduced by Sen. Mike Jacobson earlier this year, this bill makes Medigap coverage available for disabled patients and those living with ESRD who qualify for Medicare, regardless of their age.<\/div>\n
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Nebraska lawmakers would be following in the footsteps of Virginia and Kentucky, which each passed similar bills this year with near-unanimous backing from legislators.<\/p>\n

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LB32 is already generating enormous support among Nebraskans, with the city of Lincoln filing a comment supporting the bill, while the ALS Association, AARP Nebraska, the Nebraska Medical Association, Dialysis Patient Citizens and The Arc of Nebraska have each spoken out in favor of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Families throughout Nebraska are facing similar situations to what Steve and I experienced. It is time for lawmakers to step up and pass LB32 and finally help Nebraska fix a problem other states have already addressed.<\/div>\n
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Jean Kay, North Platte, Nebraska<\/em><\/div>\n
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