Medicare A, B & D enough for transplant?

[MargaretKolar]

Dear Friends,

I need help regarding insurance. My brother is gravely ill and really needs a transplant right away.

I finally navigated the whole insurance issue and discovered my brother, who needs transplant, will not qualify for Medicaid, which would have picked up the part Medicare A & B does not cover. The wheels turn so slowly to try to get answers for gov't. assistance, and I feel that I have wasted almost two months just to get this discouraging answer.

He is on social security disability and has a very limited income. Even if he could afford a supplemental plan I am hearing that he can only enroll in such a program for a limited time in the fall each year. I am certain he will not survive that long.

We live in the Las Vegas area and there is no transplant program here. Finally, he is getting good GI care here locally (thanks to help from the great people in this forum). He is going for paracentesis on a weekly basis and needs blood transfusions every few weeks, which thank goodness, he is getting. But he hardly eats anything and is turning into a skeleton with a giant belly. He feels terrible and is getting out of bed less and less frequently. He is confused and irritable most the time.

What we desperately need now is a transpant program that will take his Medicare A,B & D that would be within travel distance from Southern Nevada.

I would be so grateful for any suggestions.

Margaret

[Thomas D Schiano, MD]

listing in different parts of the country and UNOS regions is OK to do.  Patients get transplanted earlier in the south, such as in Florida or louisiana

[MargaretKolar]

Thank you so much for your response. Is it possible to be registered with multiple transplant programs? Do some programs receive organs more frequently than others?

[Thomas D Schiano, MD]

i would encourage to contact all of the transplant programs in the geographic area, including in CA, UT and AZ.  Once in their system they will try to work something out--professional social workers have seen it all and almost always they can work something out.  Your brother needs to be seen ASAP.