Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: I Have Cancer. What Should I Do?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 172 posts

Re: Ask HN: I Have Cancer. What Should I Do?

#101

Post by ams6110 »

x0054 wrote: post #69
ams6110 wrote: post #20

Be sure you don't let your insurance lapse. Go on COBRA if you have to until your new policy is in force. If you let coverage lapse more than about 30 days you are more likely be hit with a pre-existing condition exclusion. You say fiance; if you are not actually married her plan may not cover you? Unless they cover "domestic partners" not actually married (some will, some won't). Anyway, manage the insurance situati…

First, I wish all the best of luck to the OP. It's such a scary thing to go through, but it's something you will get through, like many others said, the outcomes nowadays are so much better than even 10 years ago. As for the insurance, could someone explain this to me. I thought that with ACA (Obama Care) the pre existing condition was not enforceable anymore an you could get a private insurance based on your age, in…

Eh yeah I forgot about that change. I would still think you would want to avoid coverage gaps, unless the law definitely mandates retroactive coverage. As to how the insurance companies are allowed to calculate premiums, I guess under the new law I have no idea. I don't see how they couldn't be allowed to consider claims experience at some level, but maybe they can't do it per employer anymore. But at the end of the day they still have to make a profit otherwise why bother?

Re: Ask HN: I Have Cancer. What Should I Do?

#102

Post by KajMagnus »

Best wishes with getting well and surviving.

Think about your parents and your fiancé. Those who are close to you, matters more than [a relatively small amount of money to your future colleagues. Or a large amount.]. How would your parents and fiancé feel if you quit your job and risked your life (by getting less access to good health care?) in order to in effect give money to a company?

You are more important than the company. And your future colleagues, will agree with this, I think. Companies are built to make people happy. Not the other way around.

(I think I a little bit can feel how you feel about joining the company and then later on they will know that you have this illness. And I think that they will think you did the right thing, when you joined. Assuming you don't over work yourself, but take time to rest when you feel you need to.)

Re: Ask HN: I Have Cancer. What Should I Do?

#103

Post by stevewilhelm »

x0054 wrote: post #69
ams6110 wrote: post #20

Be sure you don't let your insurance lapse. Go on COBRA if you have to until your new policy is in force. If you let coverage lapse more than about 30 days you are more likely be hit with a pre-existing condition exclusion. You say fiance; if you are not actually married her plan may not cover you? Unless they cover "domestic partners" not actually married (some will, some won't). Anyway, manage the insurance situati…

First, I wish all the best of luck to the OP. It's such a scary thing to go through, but it's something you will get through, like many others said, the outcomes nowadays are so much better than even 10 years ago. As for the insurance, could someone explain this to me. I thought that with ACA (Obama Care) the pre existing condition was not enforceable anymore an you could get a private insurance based on your age, in…

"Health insurance companies can't refuse to cover you or charge you more just because you have a pre-existing condition. They also can’t charge women more than men.

Being sick won't keep you from getting coverage

Your insurance company can't turn you down or charge you more because of your pre-existing health or medical condition like asthma, back pain, diabetes, or cancer. Once you have insurance, they can't refuse to cover treatment for your pre-existing condition.

This is true even if you’ve been turned down or refused coverage due to a pre-existing condition in the past.

Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) also can't refuse to cover you or charge you more because of your pre-existing condition.

When you get care for a pre-existing condition, you’ll still need to pay any deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance your plan requires. It doesn’t matter whether you’re being treated for a pre-existing or new health condition.

One exception: Grandfathered plans

The only exception to the pre-existing coverage rule is for grandfathered individual health insurance plans -- the kind you buy yourself, not through an employer. They don’t have to cover pre-existing conditions.

If you have one of these plans you can switch to a Marketplace plan that covers pre-existing conditions.

You can do this during open enrollment, but be sure to contact your insurance company first to learn about how and when you can cancel your current plan. You can also buy a Marketplace plan outside open enrollment when your grandfathered plan year ends. Your plan ending gives you a Special Enrollment Period to enroll in different coverage."

From https://www.healthcare.gov/health-care-law-protections/pre-e...

Re: Ask HN: I Have Cancer. What Should I Do?

#104

Post by cromulent »

ams6110 wrote: post #95
ot wrote: post #42

The fact that this thread exists makes me want to move back to Europe. It's really hard, for someone who grew up with state-provided healthcare, to understand how dealing with an illness involves decisions about employment. To the OP: the system is deeply unfair, and you shouldn't feel bad for obtaining what in the rest of the civilized world is an unalienable right.

Whose health care system has contributed most to research and development of increasingly successful diagnostic tests and treatments for cancer?

I don't know. Who? It's really hard to tell.

I think pharmaceutical companies produce a lot of them, but I wouldn't consider them a "health care system" as they are typically public companies, nor would I consider their IP to be a "contribution".

The large pharma companies are often in the US and Switzerland, but much of their revenues are not cancer related so it is hard to work out which one is doing the most.

Re: Ask HN: I Have Cancer. What Should I Do?

#105

Post by chx »

JosephMama wrote: post #37

I got diagnosed with a lymphoma (Hodgkin's) in my early thirties. Otherwise healthy also. With your age and lumps in the armpit, it sounds like lymphoma. Luckily, lymphoma treatment has a pretty good success rate. A few things I would recommend. Get a biopsy. Getting cut open sucks, but until they take a tissue sample, they really can only guess. Get it as soon as possible. If you decide to take 'normal' western trea…

> If you decide to take 'normal' western treatments (chemo/radiation)

> Don't delay treatments. The success rate only goes down with time.

No kidding!

> Steve Jobs died regretting that he had spent so long attempting to treat his cancer with alternative medicine before agreeing to undergo surgery, his biographer has disclosed.

Re: Ask HN: I Have Cancer. What Should I Do?

#106

Post by fencepost »

dammit_lump wrote: post #31

Update: thanks for all the encouragement. Looks like this was caught early so I am fairly optimistic about the outlook, just wish it didn't need to affect others around me as I face it. I should note that I haven't actually signed up for insurance at my new employer yet, as that's typically done after the first day. And my old employers' coverage ends on the 31st. I'm going to check out Cobra to tide me over. Does an…

It's easy to misread tptacek's comment, I'm pretty sure he's saying "get COBRA as needed to cover a gap, but don't stay on COBRA instead of your new employer's policy."

Staying on COBRA would likely suck, even if your new employer kicked in something to cover it. COBRA can be remarkably expensive, and anything extra the new company paid you would also be taxable income in ways that employer subsidized plans wouldn't along with being awkward if you later signed up ("Lump, we're cutting your pay since you're getting onto our insurance now.").

I'll note that once the ACA plans became available, coverage for my wife and I (on a pretty good Gold plan with no subsidy) was somewhere around 60% of the cost of COBRA for the two of us from her previous job - and the ACA plan wasn't an HMO or anything like that, it was a standard PPO with a decent network.

Delaying a change to the new employer's plan would likely not fly - much like the exchanges, you have two times you're eligible to sign up: during the open enrollment period, and after qualifying events such as a change of employment or marriage. If you bypass the new employer's plan, you're stuck until (most likely) January, 2016 after an open enrollment period in November/December.

Re: Ask HN: I Have Cancer. What Should I Do?

#108

Post by x0x0 »

calcsam wrote: post #84

(1) Buy COBRA. Do it now. You have 60 days from when you left your old job. Fill out the COBRA form, either your old carrier or old employer should have sent it to the last address you had on file. If you haven't received it or lost it, call your old HR person & ask to discuss in person. (2) When you start at your new job, they will submit forms for you to be covered. Those forms will take 30-45 days to process, beca…

(7) Thank Obama and vote for Democrats. They are the sole reason small group health insurance isn't medically underwritten and you aren't a financial disaster for your employer. Plus, in case anything happens with the new job, you can always get obamacare, even mid year because of a change in job status, with guaranteed issue, and it may well be much cheaper than cobra.

Best of luck with treatment.

ps -- my father went through this. Be pushy with your doctor if you need. They're not exactly lazy, but your outcome is more important to you than it is to them. They should be able to describe in detail the experience of treatment, but they may not do so unless forced. ie what drugs, what radiation, for how long, how will it make you feel, what are reasonable activity levels, etc.

Re: Ask HN: I Have Cancer. What Should I Do?

#109

Post by x0x0 »

calcsam wrote: post #99
calcsam wrote: post #84

(1) Buy COBRA. Do it now. You have 60 days from when you left your old job. Fill out the COBRA form, either your old carrier or old employer should have sent it to the last address you had on file. If you haven't received it or lost it, call your old HR person & ask to discuss in person. (2) When you start at your new job, they will submit forms for you to be covered. Those forms will take 30-45 days to process, beca…

7) As an aside, it will be difficult to enroll on your fiance's health insurance. You are not dependents of each other & not married. If you guys did tie the knot, you would have two qualifying events (marriage & you losing your coverage from old job), either of which on its own would let you sign up for coverage under her plan.

7 is not necessarily true in CA. You generally will be able to get your opposite-sex unmarried partner on your health insurance. You will have to prove pseudo-domestic partnership status. Typical proof would be joint leases, joint car ownership or loans, joint bank accounts, having each other as life insurance beneficiaries and next of kin, etc.

If your fiance's health insurance is better, or if you are worried about what happens if you aren't able to work for a period of time, it may be worth asking.

ps -- this is from experience on Anthem and blue cross/blue shield

Re: Ask HN: I Have Cancer. What Should I Do?

#110

Post by joeyspn »

I've also been to the doctor earlier this week for the same reason, a lump appeared in my axilla but fortunately the diagnosis was an odd tear in the top of the latissimus dorsi muscle. A family member (nurse) indicated me that it could be dangerous (a swollen lymph) so I needed to be checked ASAP.

I'm extremely sorry to hear that you haven't had the same luck dammit_lump. But I'm sure you're going to get out of this situation stronger and with a renewed illusion for life. I'm sorry I can't help you with your questions cos I'm european and I don't know much about your healthcare system there.

Things like this makes me wonder why we (engineers) are not building or taking more jobs at eHealth startups to help defeat these diseases.

During this week StackOverflow has been showing me this ad [0]. A company trying to disrupt cancer research unifying under the same platform all the cancer research centers worldwide and (apparently) plugin in bigdata analysis. I've been lurking their site and the founder is a MD who also studied CompSci on the side (online) while doing cancer research! I have enormous respect for this people.

I'd encourage anyone who knows Java/BigData seeking a remote position to check them out [1]. I'm sure in the coming years Cancer will be controlled the same way AIDS has been turned into a chronic disease and is starting to be completely wiped out from patients. But first we need to help doctors to build tools and better understand the disease.

I wish you the best dammit_lump! stay strong

[0] http://i.imgur.com/F1IxsCf.png

[1] http://www.medbravo.org/

Post reply on HN