Does being on interferon count as a disability?

[jb0ne]

Right now I'm going to school, going to graduate in May. I have 1a and got it in 2004 (I recall the lapse in judgement clearly, and had just tested negative a few months before; a few months after I was +)

I went and saw a respect GE in the area. My ALT/AST have been slightly elevated, less than 1.5X normal at most, sometimes just a few, since then. I I have genotype 1a. I told him I don't want to do SOC available at the time, but would monitor. I check Alt/AST every 6 months and viral load plus a few other things. VL has varied from less than 100,00 to almost a million in these past years. Once a year I do an US. It generally looks fine, liver slightly enlarged. I biopsy ever 5 years, just had one done. Not sure about the details but Ithink stage 0 but with certain abnormal cells evident. I understand the younger (34) and healthier you are, and the least progressed, the better chance of SVR (would use triple now OF COURSE). I have no symptoms I'm aware of and I don't drink. The schooling I'm doing is intense so I've only worked off and on one day a week. My wife is the breadwinner and she doesn't make much, especiallly since my ins premiums (even on an employer group plan with no pre-existing check) are almost $500 a month. I've been taking student loans to  help us survive.

Once I grad though they come due and with this job market i probably won't find work for a while. I'm going into healthcare, so it'd be nice to ideally have the Hep C gone before I start work, plus I don't know if I'll be unable to get insurance; right now at least I'm covered. I think Hep C is protected class under ADA, and due to HIPPA I don't think a future employer would be allowed to run blooadwork on me before hiring (but going into healthcare maybe they can). At minimum if I don't get into a large copmany with group ins I probably won't have insurace (until 2014, when the no-pre-existing clause of the Affordable Care Act kicks in.

I can probably defer the student loans, but from what I hear I probably won't be able to work while doing treatment (even if I found a job). So we're thinking of going ahead and doiing treatment  right after I grad. Get it out of the way and if anyone asks why I wasn't working in that 6mo to 1yr I blame the economy.

Complicating things, my wife is going into early menopause so we're trying to get pregnant now. Since you have to wait a year after interferon to have a child, I don't think we'll have time to wait.
So the plan is I stay home with baby, doing treatment, while she goes back to work. She doesn't make much plus we live in the most expensive state in the naiton. I think her income just falls over the line for food stamps. But if I'm "disabled" we should qualify. Also probably for WIC and TANF (which I know nothing about)
The other optioni is to just put off treatment longer, but it'll probably be harder to take a year off later after I've got a career, we've bought a houseand I can't take a year off work cause I'll lose my insurande etc.

Does anyone know about this? I'm not talking about SSDI or anything, just the state stuff to help with food.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

[eureka254]

Is the person getting chemo for hairy cell leukemia or melanoma  and unable to work as a result of toxic drug side effects able to get government assistance? Or is it  just "suck it up and back to work" for them too?
--------------------
Actually, yes it is, suck it up and back to work for them, too. My understanding is that government assistance is based in 'income' and 'need' and 'condition' as opposed to 'medication.'  Simply being prescribed a medication doesn't qualify someone for federal assistance unless one were to actually develop a documentable disability because of it (something like retinopathy for example might do it.) My husband did Interferon for over two years and even though he was unable to work on and off during that time, yes, he had to suck it up.  And the same is true for cancer chemo; he's done liver cancer chemo for two months so far and we continue to have to suck it up; in the government's eyes, it doesn't make him any more eligible for any assistance than when he wasn't treating his illnesses -- he's medicated but not disabled, so no assistance.  Good luck to you and the wife on working on that new baby ;).
~eureka

[suezeeque]

WOOOHOOO!  I drink a pot before I leave for work and a large from the drive through on the way home.  People often comment that they can hear me humming at 20 paces.  ;)

[orphanedhawk]

You know since you've never done treatment, you might want to look into some of the oral trials. They'd cover all expenses for your medical care.

The other thing I can add, is drink lots of coffee.
There's research showing that drinking 5 cups of more daily can inhibit hep C replication.

Best of luck,
OH

[suezeeque]

Your post was clear.  Don't let someone else's bad day become yours.  :D

Best to you and your wife, whatever you decide.

Sue

[jb0ne]

Also, I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure HIPPA prevents future employers from forcing me to disclose my HepC+ statuts.

[jb0ne]

One and one more thing directed to Mr. My-Diability-Is-Bigger than yours, **** off. "As someone who is truly disabled and suffers daily due to life-threatening consequences of this disease I find your attitude repellent....If you need help with buying food then you should try to get assistance with food. "

If you'd bother to read my post, I said exactly that as my last sentence: "Does anyone know about this? I'm not talking about SSDI or anything, just the state stuff to help with food. "

I'm not interested in defrauding the system and claiming disability--my hope is that with 6 months of triple therapy I'll be cured and be perfectly healthy-- there are plenty of people who got that part covered, I'm just asking if being on interferon would be taken into consideration when trying to get food aid like SNAP, WIC, TANF. I thought I was pretty clear in my post, that's why I went into such detail of my situation.