cancer expenses

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!

If your “Fairy Godmother” could give you cancer treatment advice

She would say….

“You must let your friends and family help you whenever possible during your treatment. This is the time to take friends and family up on any offers of help!”

If a friend or family member says…..”What can I do to help?”…. You NEED to say “I could use help with…”

Have a list ready of things that you know you could use help with.

Here are a few suggestions of things that others could DO to help you while you go through treatment:

Deliver a meal or two through your meal train
Clean your bathrooms, vacuum & dust, or clean your entire house 🙂
Do your family’s laundry
Mow your lawn or weed flower beds
Water your plants
Pick up your groceries
Babysit your kids so you can take a nap
Wash your car

If things are in order around your home, you will feel less stressed and be more at peace which will greatly help you through your treatment.

The further along you go into treatment the more tired you will be and the less energy you will have, so it is really a good idea to let people start helping you right away because if you wait until you really need it you may be way too tired to even try to schedule the help you need at that point. Better to get in a good schedule of receiving help from the beginning of treatment so that friends and family can slowly work helping you into their own personal schedules too so it is easier on everyone.

Bottom line is…..your friends and family will want to help you and you NEED to let them help. It is good for all involved because you need the help and it will let them give you the gift of helping and give them something to do that will really help you.

Cancer Butterfly has a lot of FREE Resources available to help you get through cancer treatment more comfortably.

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.

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!