Need help finding insurance in NY for uninsured Hep C patient

I live in upstate NY and have a friend with Hep. C. The Dr. he goes to told him his liver counts are "off the charts" and wants him to have a liver biopsy. He has been extremely tired and it is getting worse. He will need interferon Tx also.The MD told him Dr.s in our area don't accept medicaid either for any of this. I found that to be strange.The MD also said my friend would have to go to a clinic....which will be a lot of traveling.

He has no insurance and has been his father's FT caregiver for the past 2 yrs. and has been unable to work.He signed up for medicaid but it looks like he won't be qualified.Same goes for Family Health Plus,and Healthy NY. he can't afford insurance privately because he couldn't work while taking care of his father-catch 22.

In NY it seems if you apply for Medicaid you basically have to sign over your house in order to get any help. The problem is his dad recently went to a nursing home and he paid for the house my friend lives in. The nursing home goes back 5 yrs.on finaces etc. and considers everything you bought or owned as an asset. Hence the house will have a lien on it from the nursing home.

Does anyone know where he could get some help ?!!! This is so frustrating. Being born and a citizen of the USA and not being able to get healthcare-it's unreal and has me and his family extremely frustrated. We have been looking for about 2 months now without luck. We have tried different organizations without luck.
PLEASE help!!
Did you try the local health department? Where I live the county health department does low cost medical for those who don't qualify for Medicaid.

I seriously doubt if his MD has personally surveyed every physician in the area.On top of that..a physician CANNOT pick and choose which services they are going to provide based on reimbursement.If they accept Medicaid, they have treat anyone that comes to them with a Medicaid card.You can get Medicaid for isolated treatment if you do not qualify for general Medicaid benefits...this is a very little known fact about Medicaid.You apply for it through the the department of social services. No way would I take ONE Physician's word for it.

Would your friend qualify for SSI? He should apply, and try to get that, then he most likely would qualify automatically for Medicaid coverage.

It's unlikely that many of us could really tell you what qualifies. He should contact the local health dept, or social services dept.And getting SSI (social security disability) had nothing to do with medicaid. One is based on your ability to work, the other is a financial issue. After 2 years of SSI, many people then get medicare.

your friends fathers nursing home care is being paid for by medicaid, therefore affected by [color=#0000cc]medicaid estate recoverymy previous post covers this in depth.http://allnurses.com/social-health-c...ml#post2667736states are prohibited from making estate recovery whenin the case of the former home of the recipient, when an adult child has lived in the home for at least 2 years immediately before the deceased medicaid recipient was institutionalized, has lived there continuously since that time, and can establish to the satisfaction of the state that he or she provided care that may have delayed the recipient's admission to the nursing home or other medical institution.

Quote from NRSKarenRNIt's a mistaken belief by nurses and public that physicians can care for all patients.Physicians have to apply to insurance companies to become "eligible providers" in order to receive payment and be able to provide care and treatment to members of the insurance plan. Many do not apply to Medicaid so unable to provide care those recipients.

Hi all,I gave him the information you all provided. Guess we will go from there. You know men- they need to be prodded to do anything!I will post any new information for others if I get some to share.Thanks again!

Just updating- I found a plan for pre exisiting conditions after much legwork!It's the NY Bridge plan. There are 2. My friend has been through hell with the drug companies and the Bridge Plan its self. It isn't well coordinated-I beleive it's fairly new. If anyone does look into this plan-PLEASE- you have to argue with them-don't give up! They told my friend he would have to pay a $6,000 co-pay! The drug company covered it-he is taking Pegasys injections which are new so the drug company wants to promote their products and pays for it.He is on a 6 month maintenance of 3 pills in the am,2 in the afternoon and 3 at night. They are huge pills! The injection is once a week-that is what makes him sick for a few days after. You do need to attend a class before you try this new injection.He had to wait for a few months because of all the confusion. Hope this works for him...

It sounds as if he's in a clinical trial. Good luck to him, but he's already lucky to have such a good friend.

Thank you.. that's why I'm a nurse- love to help others