The physical and emotional impact of a diagnosis of mesothelioma is huge, and things can really intensify when there are also concerns about finances.
Like two situations are the same, the financial impact on families dealing with mesothelioma varies. However, it is often the case that the couple affected are of working age, and before diagnosis were both holding full-time jobs.
In this case, when it becomes impossible for the husband or wife to continue working because of their illness and the partner has to stop working to take care of them, it does not take long for the financial strain appears.
Often the couple a bit of debt. They can pay a home loan, a car loan, or both, and although this was not a concern when salaries come, it is an entirely different matter when none of them is able to to work.
Even if there is no debt, a substantial amount of money is needed to cover the cost of living, including groceries, property taxes and utilities. If there are children, there are also school fees, uniforms and books to consider.
Add to that the cost of medical services and treatments that may not be fully covered by health insurance, and the whole situation can become completely overwhelming.
If some are lucky enough to have savings set aside, it may help for a while, but the savings quickly disappear and there is no way to replace them.
The high cost of cancer
Consider the following statistics:
- based on the 08-2010 rate, 40.76 percent of babies born today will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their life [
- US medical expenditures for cancer in 2020 are expected to reach $ 158 billion, an increase of 27 percent compared to 2010.
- medical bills have been involved in over 62 percent of US personal bankruptcies in 07, an increase of nearly 50 percent from 01, a team at Harvard Law School, Harvard medical School and Ohio University recently reported
- the Harvard team also found that most people who file bankruptcy on medical debt are well educated and middle class. three quarters have health insurance.
Financial stress can be the straw that broke the camel, when it comes to taking care of a loved one with cancer. Often the caregiver, in an attempt to minimize stress for their loved one, takes all the financial worries and becomes so overloaded with stress they end up chronically ill themselves.
My personal experience
Brian was 52 years old when he was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, and I was 49. We lived in Exmouth, in the far north of Western Australia and were both working full time.
I was successfully running my own retail business, selling clothes, shoes and items I imported directly from Bali, and Brian worked at the plant for local shrimp.
Before his diagnosis, we both intend to continue to work full time until we reached the retirement age.
Things went very well for us. My business is booming, and with the normal salary from Brian as well, we decided to buy a new home.
Shortly after we signed the papers, we went to Bali and spent a significant amount of money on new hardware for my shop. The tourist season was approaching, and we expected some very profitable month.
Unfortunately, this was not to be.
Shortly after our return to Exmouth in November 1999, Cyclone Vance hit the city with winds recorded 267 kmh (166 mph), the highest wind gust ever measured on the Australian mainland . Exmouth was left looking like a war zone, with its inhabitants wander in shock.
There was a terrible time, and until the diagnosis of Brian, it was the worst thing that ever happened to me.
Needless to say, our hopes for the existence of a good few months of the tourist trade were dashed. The town of Exmouth was so damaged that it has been declared a national disaster area, and the entrance to the city was closed until the damage could be repaired and residents and business owners may return to their feet.
Meanwhile, Exmouth residents were only spending the bulk of money, and for good business several weeks for me was absolutely zero.
Regardless of this, there was still the high rent to pay on my business premises, and it was out of the salary Brian and all our other living expenses.
Tragedy After Another
1999 was to be the cruelest years of our lives. A little over a month after the cyclone hit Vance, Brian was diagnosed with mesothelioma and given three to nine months to live.
This has changed everything for me, and I decided to sell my business so that I could spend every precious moment with Brian. Unfortunately, at this time, when it came to the sale of a business, there was the possibility of including a monetary figure for "goodwill" (payment for building a customer base faithful).
All I could do was hand over my business name to the buyer, and all of my shop fittings and stock ?? at cost
Selling my shares at cost represented a huge loss of potential revenue for me. added to this, it was difficult to accept that all the hard work I had put Brian and supply and purchase of stock in Bali had been for nothing. There was also the cost of travel and accommodation we paid.
Far from being a holiday, our shopping trip left both of us drained. Brian had seemed unusually tired, and knowing what I do now, I think he had mesothelioma.
The sale of my shop was heartbreaking for me. I had built from scratch and was very proud of what I achieved. It was also very sad for us to our new home for sale. We were so happy to find such a beautiful house in Exmouth and had thought that all our dreams came true.
Due to the urgency of our situation, we could not be choosy when it came to an offer on our house. We need to sell quickly, so that we could buy a house in Perth, and we ended up losing financially too.
Once in Perth, chemotherapy treatment of Brian started and there were several hospital stays during the following months. Do not have private insurance, we first had concerns about how we pay for all this, but fortunately Medicare (Australia) covered most medical and all chemotherapy costs. The drugs have also become very cheap after we reached the safety net.
Since neither Brian nor I was able to work, we both received Centrelink benefits, and although it did not allow all the extras, we managed to get by. (Learn more about the social security benefits in U.S.)
Owning our own home helped make this possible. If we had to pay rent and all our other expenses, I do not know how we would have survived.
relieve financial stress
The first thing to do when a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma is to talk to a qualified mesothelioma attorney to see if you can get any compensation from the company that was responsible for the asbestos exposure.
There is nothing better than Asbestos.com to advise and support you during this process. Asbestos.com can help you select a firm of qualified lawyers for your needs.
Second, do not be afraid to ask for help. Reach out to others. You never know who may be able to help you if you ask
Here is a list of other things that may be useful :.
- Contact any company to which you owe a debt, explain your situation and ask them if they can help you in any way. Although relatively small debt, you may find that some companies give up. With larger debts, companies can be pleasant to hold off payments due until you are able to meet ?? or at least they may agree to reduce the monthly payment and extend the payment period over a longer period of time.
- Talk to your doctor about your financial concerns. They can be fun to cut your costs.
- Use the Internet to find out which organizations are available to help people in your situation. Nonprofit organizations have volunteers who will make all sorts of things to help people, and there is no charge for their services.
- You can also use the Internet to look at how you might be able to manage and control your health care costs. Visit the websites where there are online forums and the ability to communicate with people who are going through the same thing you are. Ask questions, and you will be surprised the amount of useful information that visitors to the site provide colleagues. The more you network, the more chances to find solutions to your problems.
So in short, reaching out to others, mesothelioma lawyers to other resources mentioned above. You never know if help is available until you ask.
You can leave a comment below or on Facebook Lorraine.
