She should apply for Social Security disability NOW. Even if she gets Compassionate Allowance, benefits still don’t become payable for five months. My brother has a terminal illness that qualifies – diagnosed in July, applied in September, approved in November, benefits started in February. They will start the calendar running from the date of diagnosis.
After two years on SS disability, she would qualify for Medicare.
I don’t know if this was mentioned but there might be a department at JHU which helps people who need to apply for SS Disability. Something to look into.
Is social security working during the shutdown? I didn’t know if they are one of the agencies affected
I see @snowball mentioned the same thing. I have a friend who has stage 4 bone cancer and has for years. She’s on SS Disability and Medicaid as she can’t work and has had treatment after treatment
I did email cousin last night about SS disability. As far as I know, they are not an agency impscted by shutdown. Thanks to all of you who suggested that, did not occur to me.
Living in Maryland we do have access to world class healthcare, I’m glad she is pursuing that. And while it is great the company covers her insurance, something I hope they understand as a small business - by doing this they are now setting a precedence to cover every employee and former employee here forward for all sorts of reasons. They may want to consider getting an HR consultation to set a policy now in writing.
A woman at SS confirmed that they are not affected by the shutdown (I was talking to her about my son).
@eyemamom - the precedent thing at work is interesting. We have another long time employee who has been out for weeks and has had a kidney transplant, I have no idea if she uses our insurance or that of her spouse, but it is different in that she is expected to return, at least pt, soon. There has been no other situation in the 6 years I have been there of an employee out indefinitely on FMLA so no established policy. I have been advocating for her very strongly and I do think I have some influence. One of the owners said to me that we are a small, privately owned company and have the flexibility to make individual based decisions. They are well aware that she has nothing to fall back on in terms of savings. So, I would say this is a pretty unusual situation and they are not worried about setting a precedent. But I am also keeping their generosity quiet at work - no one besides owners and HR person needs to know about this.
Your employer’s rates for health insurance could go up significantly as a result of this. When I’ve sat in on our health insurance company’s presentation to renew coverage, they have told us that our company’s claims history impacts our rate. It sounds as if your friend might qualify for Medicaid. I like the recommendation that she talk to JHU about the financial options, or maybe they can recommend someone to address this. My concern for her is which one of these entities will cover the anticipated medicine and treatments? Amazing to me that the phenomenon of gaps in coverage exists, such that your private insurance might pay for a certain drug but public insurance (Medicaid/Medicare) won’t, and perhaps vice-versa.
Your employer is being very generous. But I think they need to make clear to your friend that this is going to be a long process and that she needs to get the process of applying for SSDI as soon as possible. It’s not being mean but helping their employee get what they need. And having no interruptions in health care.
I could not find anything on the JHU Hospital website but your friend should have a patient advocate and there should be resources for that within the hospital system.
There are clinical trials at the NIH for melanoma and the care is free.
More power to them, but as a privately owned small business owner in Maryland I have been informed differently. Just alerting you to not believe it won’t or can’t happen to them. Every person with a serious medical condition will be able to collect full benefits at no cost. I’m not saying don’t do it, but be aware of the unintended consequences. I hate to say it because I’ve come to learn many times kind gestures at work can come back to haunt you.
As long as the employee is on FMLA my understanding is that she is covered under their insurance. But for everyone’s sake, she needs to get the ball rolling on SSDI.
@eyemamom as a business owner maybe you can give your opinion on this. I’m not sure that if the employee has used up all of their FMLA leave and there is no long term disability insurance, can the company even cover an employee who will no longer be working there? I’m not sure that you can insure an employee no longer employed.
The company can make clear that their employee will be welcomed back into your company once she recovers. But that she has to apply now for SSDI.
My bil had to go on SSDI. The hospital helped with the paperwork. He recovered and went back (with open arms) to his old employer. SSDI does not have to be permanent if the patient recovers. That can be made clear to your friend.
So sorry for all of this @rockvillemom. You are being a great friend.
Didn’t @rockvillemom say that the company would pay Cobra when the time comes?
JHU should also have a case manager, and a social worker…both should be knowledgeable about transition to SSDI, Medicare or whatever…as well as the process to do so.
Perhaps the local Council on Aging could provide some advice.
I will definitely mention the JHU patient advocate idea to her cousin.
Some of this is longer range planning, and who knows if she even has a long range? I am grateful our employer is committed to keeping her on the insurance after FMLA runs out in 10 weeks. The owners are smart people, I will let them think through any consequences of setting a precedent for the next time we have a gravely ill employee with no assets and no other private health care options. If something changes and they are unable to pay her COBRA as the company, I bet they will pay it out of their own pockets. I will pay it myself for a few months at least if it comes to that, but I believe they will handle it.
We also can donate vacation time to help sick employees. That goes into a bank, cannot be directed to a specific employee, but the company understands how to foster goodwill. So, once her vacation hours are exhausted after this week, she can request hours from the bank to give her some income for the next few weeks.
I didn’t see that the employer had agreed to pay the employees Cobra. Hard to wade through 12 pages
Anything an employer does for one they must do for all. They don’t get to say but this one has no resources and this one does. Hopefully they’re paying the cobra from their personal funds and not company funds.
Only active employees can be covered under a corporate insurance policy.
Insurance policy with under 50 employees really isn’t cobra, they can just pay the rate and stay on the plan and pay the company not the insurance company. Since the company is accustomed to paying the bill they can probably absorb continuing it. Though everyone is accustomed to payroll deductions being taken to cover insurance it’s really not going directly to the insurance company, the employer is paying that bill each month in full being offset by not giving an employee money they would have given them otherwise. Not sure if that makes sense.
I’m sure Rockville didn’t want this detour, just an observation about how you have to consider things you wouldn’t normally think about as an employee vs owner.
Being thoughtful and supportive is often way more difficult than you’d think and it isn’t always because an employer is greedy or unfeeling.
If the company is self-insured, they probably have reinsurance to cover high claims like rockvillemom’s friend’s treatment.
A company of 100 EEs isn’t likely to self-insure.
I checked the SSDI Compassionate Allowance list, and while metastatic melanoma isn’t on the list, a stage 4 dx and not responding to chemo should nevertheless be a quick review.
Just wanted to let you know about the 24 month period before Medicare kicks in, because at that point your employer would no longer need to pay premiums for her.
Ok, thanks.
The trials with Opdivo and Yervoy have a 53% 4 year survival rate - and I believe that is just for stage 4 melanoma, before you throw in the bone cancer for good measure. She has her first treatment with both drugs this coming Friday and than again 3 weeks later. I don’t know how soon they will be able to tell if she is responding.
Hi - I’m just checking in on your friend. My stage 4 metastatic melanoma BFF who I have mentioned several times in this thread has had a terrible setback and major brain surgery yesterday (again). It went well but it’s a constant cycle of waiting for the other shoe to drop. This disease is the worst and I hate it. How is your friend doing? I am praying for her. The experience I have witnessed with my friend and some of her cancer friends is a constant drill of moving from one trial drug to the next - this time it works, that week it didn’t. It’s a huge roller coaster and I am so sorry for her.
I try really hard to be there for my friend and go out with her and have adventures together - between these terrible surgeries and treatments, she has months of a very high quality, full life and then it repeats again. I wanted to suggest making plans and having things to do and look forward to when her health stabilizes. There are definitely times I have to resell her tickets to events, but it means the world to her to plan for the future.
All best wishes!
@Lila1212 Thank you for asking. She is not doing well and was admitted to JHU Hospital today. Her pain is exceeding what can be managed from home, she is not sleeping, they may start radiation for the bone cancer. She does not have a good living situation at this point, so probably better off in the hospital.