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Brain Tumor Survival Guide
2. Get your insurance company busy.
Money and Insurance Companies
Let's face it: treatment for a brain tumor is expensive. For example, the cost of treating a glioblastoma with surgery, radiation and modern chemotherapy with hospitalizations and other costs can exceed $450,000 in many parts of the country.
Many people diagnosed with a brain tumor are in the prime of their life and this may be the first time they've ever been seriously ill. Now they must deal with the health insurance bureaucracy which is complicated and fraught with red tape intended to discourage the payment of claims. Their tactic is to turn patients against doctors and hospitals. In reality, the insurance company is your enemy and should be forced to pay out every dime - that's why you've been paying premiums all these years!
It is not fair. You will be fighting for your life. You may not feel great after surgery and during radiation and chemotherapy. Few healthy people can decipher the modern claim form from an insurance company. How about some distraught person with a brain tumor or their worried family? You will not be in any mood to deal with the bureaucracy of an insurance company; neither will your grieving family.
My advice: while you are feeling good, get a lawyer on retainer and find out the telephone number of the state insurance board. You may need both. Don't wait to see what the insurance company will do. That may take months. You may assume that since they always paid the bill for your primary care physician, they'll come through now. Think again! The primary care physician's bill was small potatoes. This is big time. And when you find out that you've been given a shoddy deal, you may be in the middle of radiation and/or chemotherapy and not be up to do battle with them. Assume from the start that they are out to cheat you. Most often, you'll find out that this is correct. If this turns out to be wrong, you can be pleasantly surprised and you'll have lost nothing by preparing for the worst case (and most likely) scenario.
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