Why Quitting My Job and Going on
Medicaid Was My Best Option When I Got Cancer
You may have gathered from my headline that I
recommend that if you get cancer, you should quit your job and go on Medicaid.
Of course, for most people it is not that simple, but if you happen to find
yourself in a similar place as I did -- getting cancer at age 26 or older (when
you're no longer eligible to be on your parents' plan), not married, and making
a modest salary (I worked in education, which I loved, but let's be real...it
doesn't pay the bills like being a Wall Street investment banker would!) -- I'd
highly recommend that you at least consider resigning from your job and
enrolling in Medicaid. After all, jobs will come and go -- the average American
worker now stays at one job for just 4.4 years,
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics -- but medical debt can,
unfortunately, last forever.
My situation was perhaps a little different
from most. I had been living and working in NYC at the time of my diagnosis.
Before I even knew Medicaid was an option, I wanted to move back to MN, where
I'm from and where my family lives, for treatment. Since I was not eligible for
FLMA at my old job, my only option was to resign. After I made my decision, my
parents and I looked at what my options would be on the MN healthcare exchange
website (https://www.mnsure.org/).
We figured I would be eligible for some sort of Obamacare plan. However, given
that I no longer had an income, I was eligible for Medical Assistance, the
Minnesota term for Medicaid.
At first, I felt a little guilty going on this.
Even though, as I mentioned above, I am a liberal Democrat, I felt there was a
stigma attached to Medicaid, and that I was somehow "cheating the
system". After all, I was a college-educated "white collar"
professional. I was upwardly mobile! I had a 401K (not that there's much in it,
but still)! Medicaid was for "poor people" who were too lazy to get a
"real job" (for the record, I never personally thought this, but
unfortunately I think this is how our society views those on Medicaid, which
made me feel uncomfortable going on it). However, when you have a
life-threatening disease, you don't really have time to think about politics,
so I took the leap and quit my job, moved back home, and enrolled in Medicaid.
Thankfully,
Minnesota has one of the most generous healthcare systems in the country, and I
was able to get treatment at the University of Minnesota, which is top-notch when
it comes to oncology. I was never treated as a second-class citizen, or a leech
on society, or any of the other awful things people on Medicaid or any other
sort of public-assistance program are often thought of, at any point in my
treatment. And for that, I feel extremely lucky. I feel even more lucky that,
aside from co-pays (which were pretty minimal), my treatment was 100% covered
-- this includes visits, medications and scans.
To be honest, I have no idea
of the total cost of my treatment. But just to give you some perspective of how
expensive saving yourself from cancer can be, let me share one medication
I do know the cost of: Neulasta. You'll remember that I had to get an
injection of Neulasta following each treatment of chemotherapy because of my
severely low white blood cell count. Oh, it's just a quick injection, how much
can that cost? Well, it came with a veryhefty price tag: FIVE THOUSAND
DOLLARS. I kid you not. The first time the nurse brought it out she breathed a
sigh of relief, as oftentimes many private insurance plans do not cover it. I
did this injection 11 out of 12 treatments, so if I would have been uninsured,
or had insurance that didn't cover it, I'd be in the hole $55,000 -- on top of
what the other medications and scans would cost. I am honestly nauseated at the
thought of what my medical debt could have been.
This is why I encourage anyone who is recently
diagnosed to at least consider this option. While I know this isn't an option
for many people -- maybe you cannot afford to not be working
(thankfully, I was able to move back in with my parents, who kindly took me
back into the nest), or you live in a state with a really crappy Medicaid
system, or you are working your dream job and don't want to leave it -- if
you're somewhere in between, it might be worth putting your professional life
on hold to focus on getting healthy in a reasonably affordable way, especially
if you have additional debt from student loans or a mortgage or whatever.
