out of pocket expenses

New Grant Foundations for spring!

Happy Spring time! We have run across some new grant Foundations that may be helpful to you! The Foundations are not new, we just newly became aware of them. So we wanted to be sure to pass on the information on these Foundations right away…..

Everything from Foundations that offer non-medical cost-of-living help, transportation, home care and child care costs. Grants for help with outstanding medical bills, mortgage payments, tuition assistance and providing financial assistance for vacations!

My motto is apply for any that you may qualify for …..the worst they can say is “no” 🙂

***Here is the list of Foundations that have been newly added to our Cancer Butterfly Foundation List (go down the list and start applying today!):

The Pink Fund A non-profit breast cancer organization that provides 90-day non-medical cost-of-living to breast cancer patients in active treatment for breast cancer, so they can focus on healing, raising their families, and returning to the workplace.

Apply thru website: https://www.pinkfund.org/

The Pink Fund

P.O. Box 603

Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303

By Phone: 877.234.PINK (7465)

The Pink Fund partners with The Mary Herczog Fund for Metastatic Breast Cancer Survivors The Mary Herczog Fund for Metastatic Breast Cancer Survivors was launched in her honor to provide six months of financial support to women in treatment for metastatic breast cancer. Metastatic survivors diagnosed under 40, as was Mary, and awaiting Social Security Disability, may qualify under The Pink Fund’s guidelines. Check back to our site on March 31, 2018 for the official launch, including details on qualifications and applications.

Apply thru website: https://www.pinkfund.org/2018/03/26/partners-address-metastatic-breast-cancer-community/

The Pink Fund / The Mary Herczog Fund for Metastatic Breast Cancer Survivors

P.O. Box 603

Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303

By Phone: 877.234.PINK (7465)

Cancer Care The Financial Assistance Program helps with treatment-related costs, such as transportation, home care and child care. The Co-Payment Assistance Foundation helps with insurance co-payments to cover the cost of chemotherapy and targeted treatments.

Cancer Care

275 Seventh Avenue

New York, NY 10001

By Phone: 800‑813‑HOPE (4673)

Call to apply: Call 800-813-HOPE (4673) and speak with a CancerCare social worker to complete a brief interview. They can be reached from 10 a.m.–6 p.m. (ET) Monday through Thursday, and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. (ET) on Friday.

The Angela Andrade Foundation Grants have ranged from paying outstanding medical bills, mortgage payments, tuition assistance and providing financial assistance for vacations.

You are eligible to apply to the Angela Andrade Foundation if:

You are a patient with metastatic breast cancer
You are receiving treatment within the United States
You are a permanent resident of the United States

In order to apply for a grant, an applicant must mail a completed application to the address indicated below.

Download the application here: https://angelaandradefoundation.blogspot.com/p/srchttpsdocs.html

Grants will be given in $1,800 increments. Grants will be given on an as needed basis. Recipients are selected monthly and must wait a year before applying for another grant from The Angela Andrade Foundation. The applicant must submit a completed application including confirmation from a healthcare provider (through a sealed letter). When possible, all grant payments will be made directly to service providers on behalf of the individual recipient. In some instances recipients may be eligible for reimbursement, but they must provide receipts prior to expense reimbursement.

The Angela Andrade Foundation

The Dallas Foundation

Reagan Place at Old Parkland 3963 Maple Avenue, Suite 390

Dallas, Texas 75219

(214) 741-9898
Email: angelaandradefoundation@gmail.com

American Cancer Society Breakthrough research. Free lodging near treatment. A 24/7/365 live helpline. Rides to treatment. And much more!

Call to see what all they can help YOU with for your specific situation.

Cancer Help line: 800-227-2345

American Cancer Society Road to Recovery Program

The program is intended to assist with cancer-related appointments. Patients must provide a 3 business day advance notice, not including the first date a ride is needed, when making requests. All arrangements must be made through the American Cancer Society Patient Services department. Patients should NOT contact volunteer drivers directly to request rides.

American Cancer Society Patient Services department must be notified immediately if a patient’s plans change and a ride is no longer needed. The program is subject to volunteer availability. A request will be submitted to determine if drivers are available.

Patients will be notified no later than one business day before the scheduled appointment to provide a status update on the request and if a driver was found. (Patients may be notified sooner than this.) If a volunteer driver is found, patients may be contacted by the driver the night prior to the appointment.

Please feel free to call the American Cancer Society’s Patient Services department with any questions. Our toll-free number is 888-227-6333.

American Cancer Society – Hope Lodge Each Hope Lodge offers cancer patients and their caregivers a free place to stay when their best hope for effective treatment may be in another city. Not having to worry about where to stay or how to pay for lodging allows guests to focus on getting better. Hope Lodge provides a nurturing, home-like environment where guests can retreat to private rooms or connect with others. Every Hope Lodge also offers a variety of resources and information about cancer and how best to fight the disease.

Check out webpage for more info: https://www.cancer.org/treatment/support-programs-and-services/patient-lodging/hope-lodge.html

**Join our private Breast Cancer Financial Help and Resources – Cancer Butterfly Facebook Group to ask questions, share info, and get in the info sharing first hand 🙂

Click here to check out our complete Cancer Butterfly Foundation Grant List

Click the compass below to check out all of our other free resources:

Steps leading up to my Breast Cancer diagnosis

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I first noticed the lump in my right breast while on vacation over the summer with my family. Once we returned home, I made an appointment with my doctor.

They were certain it was NOT cancer but sent me to get a mammogram just to be sure. The mammogram came back with abnormalities. They did an ultrasound that same day on the breast.

They told me they wanted me to come back for a biopsy the next week, they kept saying they were sure it was not cancer, “I was too young, it didn’t run in my family, I don’t fit the profile, blah, blah, blah…”

I went back the next week and had the biopsy on a Wednesday and by Friday afternoon ten minutes before needing to leave to pick up my daughter at kindergarten my doctor’s office called with the horrible news…… I do indeed have breast cancer.

And let me tell you….. the world stopped….. you hear of people saying the “world just stopped”, and it really did….dead silence, I had to remind myself to breathe…

I was and still am shocked! I had my first baseline mammogram at age 35 and it was fine. I was 40 years old when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I am now happy to say I am a seven year breast cancer survivor 🙂

To help ease your burden as you go through cancer treatment we have a lot of resources available to help with out of pocket costs for hospital tests, chemotherapy cost, chemotherapy side effects, and radiation treatment costs.

Click the compass below to check out all the FREE Resources available on CancerButterfly.com to help you through your cancer treatment:

Don’t open the oven door with your wig on!

The biggest tip I can give you in the “wig” department is….. “don’t open the oven door with your wig on!” Both of the wigs I purchased were synthetic. I had no idea that synthetic wigs are HEAT SENSITIVE and I was just going about my business pulling dinner out of the oven and then I noticed when I walked past a mirror that my bangs were standing on end! Never to look the same again! The heat from the oven scorched my bangs 🙁 So then, I was on to wig number two.

If you are going through cancer treatment and chemotherapy is part of your medical treatment, losing your hair may be part of the deal as one of the chemotherapy side effects of some of the chemotherapy drugs. Keep in mind it is temporary and the chemotherapy hair loss, eyebrow hair loss and eyelash loss will grow back rather quickly once chemotherapy treatment is complete.

There are two main types of wigs:

Synthetic Hair Wig – generally less expensive than real human hair. You CAN NOT use hot styling tools on a synthetic wig unless it is a heat safe version. There is no styling necessary for synthetic wigs, since they come already styled. When wearing a synthetic wig be very careful to stay away from BBQ grills, ovens, stoves, and fireplaces!

Real Human Hair Wig – generally more expensive than synthetic wigs and has a higher quality texture of hair. This type of wig will allow you to be able to change the hairstyle and use hot styling tools on it.

It is recommended that you wash your wig after wearing it every 8-12 times. Don’t brush your wig when it is wet. The fibers in wigs are fragile and should only be brushed with a wig brush and only when the wig is dry. There is special wig shampoo that you can purchase at any wig shop.

The bangs on wigs are purposely left long so that each person can have them trimmed how they would like, since some people wear their bangs longer than others. After you purchase your wig you can take it to a hairdresser that has experience in cutting wigs and have the bangs trimmed how you would like. I also put hair clips in my wigs to make them look more like how I actually wear my hair.

Save money on out of pocket Hospital bill co-pays

As you go through cancer treatment you will accumulate a lot of various individual bills for hospital services. These services may include lab work, MRI, PET scan, echocardiogram, ultrasounds, X-rays, Mammograms, biopsies, genetic tests, surgery, and any other large test performed at the hospital.

The costs of all these tests can REALLY add up! Usually your health insurance company will have negotiated the rates on these services with your hospital, but you may still have quite a bit to pay out of pocket on your co-pays.

The amount I owed the hospital for my out of pocket co-pay cost for all my breast cancer related hospital expenses was $1,594.88. Thankfully, I learned how to apply for a discount on these costs and luckily was able to receive a 54% discount off of that amount, so then I only owed $726.22!

When you also have out of pocket co-pays and deductibles to pay for chemotherapy and radiation treatment, all the out of pocket costs can really start to add up! So anywhere you can save money helps a lot! Thankfully, there is financial help for cancer patients!

How to save money on chemotherapy treatment

Chemotherapy treatment can be VERY expensive depending on what type of insurance you have and how much your health insurance is contracted to cover of your chemotherapy treatment.

Chemotherapy grants and drug co-pay programs can help! Chemotherapy grants and drug co-payment programs have specific time deadlines and depending on the program may only go retro for 30-360 days from your “approved” date, so it is VERY important to apply for these right away.

The co-payment programs are available according to the type of cancer you have (example: breast cancer, colon cancer, thyroid cancer, etc.) and are also available according to the type of chemotherapy cancer treatment drugs you are receiving for your treatment.

The following are all drugs I received as part of my breast cancer treatment: Evista (hormone blocker), Emend (very expensive anti-nausea drug), Anzemet (chemo drug), Adriamycin (chemo drug), Cytoxan (chemo drug), Taxotere (very expensive chemo drug), Neulasta Injection (to ward off infection, very expensive!).

Actual cost for above chemo/drug expenses: $42,690.19

Contracted amount my insurance paid: $3,489.70

My “out of pocket” cost: $4,402.74

Amount I saved on my “out of pocket” cost by applying for cancer grants and co-payment programs: $2,076.17

I could have saved thousands of dollars more had I found out about these programs earlier in my treatment….ugh!!

Amount I actually paid out of pocket on my chemo: $2,326.57

So, you can see it is well worth it to apply for cancer grant programs! And saving on your chemotherapy treatment is just one piece of the savings puzzle, you can also save on your radiation treatment out of pocket costs, and on your hospital out of pocket costs!

Why keeping your cancer medical paperwork organized is important

Once you are diagnosed with cancer it is very frightening and overwhelming to just process all the medical information you are receiving, not to mention everything you need to now keep track of as far as paperwork.

It will be much easier for you if you just start out organized from the beginning of your treatment (or at least start where you are now) if at all possible. I remember once I started and continued through chemotherapy for breast cancer, it got more and more difficult to concentrate on things like reading a book, watching a movie, or focusing on any kind of paperwork.

Keeping things simple and having a specific place for everything will make things much easier and you will be able to stay on top of your paperwork much better and find what you need when you need it if you are organized.

There are several money saving programs available to help cancer patients with their cancer treatment related out of pocket co-pays. These programs require specific information from your medical paperwork (EOB’s – Explanation of Benefit) forms from your health insurance regarding each of your medical visits in order for them to determine your out of pocket expenses. Once you have all your information in order you will be ready to apply for Cancer Grants and Cancer treatment medical discounts.

Worry less and save money on your cancer treatment

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40 my first and foremost concern was of course for my health and to be able to see my two young daughters Jessica (then 5 yrs) and Emily (then almost 2 yrs) grow up.

My second concern was how much my cancer treatment would cost and how much of a financial hardship it would be for my family. I was (and still am) a stay at home mom, so our family was already on a pretty tight budget.

I spent a lot of sleepless nights worrying about how much my treatment of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation would cost and how we would pay for it.

I was soon committed to not let my cancer treatment be a financial drain on my family. As you go through cancer treatment you have a lot of nights that you have trouble sleeping either due to the treatment medications you are taking or the worry in your mind and in your heart.

I decided whenever I couldn’t sleep I would research ways to save money on my cancer treatment and apply for anything that I could in order to save as much money as possible on my treatment.

Had I known through my ten months of treatment all that I know now I could have applied for programs earlier and maximized more of my benefits and probably had many fewer sleepless nights worrying about how we would pay for my treatment.

My goal is to help others who are burdened by this horrible disease called cancer. Hopefully the information on Cancerbutterfly.com will ease your mind about the financial side of your treatment, so you can focus on your health.

I wish you much luck with your health and your financial side of cancer.

I could have saved an additional $2,326.57 on my cancer treatment!

If I had found out about these money saving cancer treatment programs earlier in my breast cancer treatment I could have saved an additional $2,326.57 on my out of pocket co-pays!

I did save $4,276.61 on my out of pocket co-pays for my cancer treatment, however finding out at the end of my treatment that I could have saved an additional $2,326.57 was devastating!

That was money that came directly out of my family’s pocket since I didn’t know about all the cost savings available to me at the beginning or even middle of my treatment! Many of the money saving programs available have time deadlines relating to your treatment and many of the programs also have retro rules regarding how far back in time they will allow you to use your benefits on prior treatments that occurred before the date you were actually “approved” in order to use your awarded benefits.

Since I had found out about these programs so late in my treatment, (I actually found out about them after had just finished chemotherapy), I had been awarded a certain amount of benefits that I could use but I was only able to use it on my last chemo treatment due to the programs retro rules on how far back you are allowed to use your awarded benefits 🙁

Needless to say this was extremely disappointing and frustrating to find out! So my hope is to help other cancer patients learn about and understand these programs as early as possible in their treatment so they can save as much money as possible on their out of pocket cancer treatment expenses.

I saved over $4,200 on my out of pocket cancer treatment expenses!

There are several ways to save money on out of pocket cancer treatment expenses.

I went through ten months of treatment for breast cancer that included chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation oncology. Cancer treatment can be very expensive depending on what type of insurance you have.

The money saving programs available that I discovered toward the end of my treatment saved our family thousands of dollars on our out of pocket expenses on insurance co-pays and deductibles. I saved $4,276.61 to be exact! This is an amazing amount of savings.

However, had I known about these programs earlier in my treatment I could have further maximized the benefits, as some of the programs are time sensitive relating to when you receive treatment, and I could have saved thousands of dollars more.

The programs available can provide discounts on hospital expenses such as surgery, big tests like MRI, PET scan, mammograms, blood work, ultrasound, etc.

The discounts available for chemotherapy treatment can save you thousands on your out of pocket co-pays relating to the chemotherapy drugs and other cancer treatment related drugs you receive.

The discounts available for radiation oncology can also save thousands on your out of pocket co-pays relating to your radiation treatment. I am excited to share all the resources that I uncovered during my treatment and help guide cancer patients along the way.

The cancer road is not an easy one, especially the financial side of it. However, I have been there and I can guide you through your financial side of treatment and help you save as much money as possible on your out of pocket cancer related treatment expenses.

Welcome to Cancer Butterfly! Learn how to save money on your cancer treatment!

The Cancer Butterfly website is officially open!

My name is Danielle Rivera and I am a seven year breast cancer survivor, I created this site to celebrate my seven year breast cancer survivor anniversary on September 4, 2016.

Since going through ten months of cancer treatment myself, I learned how expensive cancer treatment can be and what a burden it can financially be on a family.

This is a site designed to help cancer patients learn how to save money on their out of pocket cancer treatment expenses.

The resource pages will help guide you smoothly through your treatment by providing information on the different types of wigs available, how to set up an electronic meal delivery calendar, dental advice for how to take care of your gums and teeth during chemotherapy treatment, tips on how to keep all your medical paperwork organized, and even how to get free hotel nights and airfare for medical treatment or for a much needed vacation 🙂

Our family was able to save $4,276.61! This is the actual amount I saved on my “out of pocket” cancer medical expenses, this amount would have come directly out of our families pocket had I not found additional programs and resources that help cancer patients with their “out of pocket” cancer related medical expenses.

I am excited to share all the resources that I uncovered during my treatment and help guide cancer patients and their families along the way. My family lives on the central coast of California. My husband is a Firefighter for the US Forest Service and we have two daughters, Jessica who just turned 13 years old and Emily who is 9 years old.

Saving money has turned into somewhat of a hobby of mine, whether it is on groceries, household items, hotel stays, air fare, or cancer treatment, I am interested to find out how to save money and look at it as a fun rewarding challenge that I am excited to help others succeed with as well, especially cancer patients!