skin cancer, no health insurance

October 25, 2009 7:23 PM

My friend appears to have Basal Cell Carcinoma on his ear. He has no health insurance and has so far been denied any low-income health care options. This thing needs to be removed from his ear. We are in Portland, OR. Does anyone please know of any options/services/programs that can help with this sort of thing?

So, last night, my dear friend shows me a growth on his ear that has been increasing in size for the past 8 months. It has all the characteristics of Basal Cell Carcinoma - a common form of skin cancer than can be easily treated if caught early and removed.

He has no health insurance and is self-employed. He has applied for various low income health care options but has been denied because they want to see tax forms from the previous year. His income from the previous year is too high to qualify him for their services - however, his financial situation this year is radically different (much less income) then what is reflected on his past tax returns.

He needs to get this growth on his ear removed. I refuse to believe that there cannot be assistance available to help him get this sorted out. Does anyone please know of any options/services/programs that can help?

posted by ainsley to health & fitness (6 comments total)

Call 800-227-2345. It' the American Cancer Society's hotline. It's staffed by actual people 24-7, and they can look up resource for him to get screened/possible treatment if it is actually basal cell. You will need to know his zip code and possibly age. Now, if he's also looking to find out if any health insurance options exist for him, they may have info on that, too, but you'll need a lot more detailed info, so he'd probably have to call for that himself.
posted by ishotjr at 7:36 PM on October 25

I should clarify that there may not be any services out there for him that are free/low cost, but they can check and see what programs are out there. They also don't do/pay for treatment themselves, just look for resources.
posted by ishotjr at 7:37 PM on October 25

Your friend should do WHATEVER he has to do to get health insurance immediately, assuming there is no record of his carcinoma. You do not want to go around having cancer with no health insurnace in the U.S. If it were I, I would sell my car, my whatever in order to be insured.

I just watched a friend's family go into tremendous debt because he had cancer with no insurance, and once you've got it (even if it's just carcinoma), no one will cover you. And cancer has a funny way of popping back up.

Sorry...I know that doesn't really answer your question. I just worry about this happening to people, and I am not confident that whatever health care plan Congress passes will really help much of anything.
posted by nosila at 8:06 PM on October 25

This won't cost more than a couple of hundred dollars. If he doesn't qualify for low-income services, and it's truly something he needs to take care of now, he might be able to pay for the surgery up front. I just had a couple of moles removed and biopsied, and the price that my insurance was charged for it, including post-operative care, wasn't prohibitive by any means. My dermatologist exam itself was about $80.
posted by halogen at 8:18 PM on October 25

This won't cost more than a couple of hundred dollars.

Not necessarily. Insurance companies get steep discounts. Prices are jacked up significantly for those paying out-of-pocket. Still, it might be worth inquiring upfront how much it costs and then seeing if it can get paid for out of pocket or if a deal/payment plan can be made with the medical provider.

But, if this hasn't been officially diagnosed yet, then I agree with nosila, try now to get any kind of insurance you can or risk never being insurable again.
posted by Bueller at 11:34 PM on October 25

Has your friend looked at Outside In? I'm not of his age, but Outsidein.org is a sliding scale medical clinic in Portland that will probably not turn you away- though it is oriented mainly towards homeless and/or youth that are uninsured. They may be able at least to give him a good referral.
posted by goodnight moon at 10:43 AM on October 26