Someone posted a really interesting link in the online support group I've been a part of for 10+ years. It's a piece about financial planners who are helping cancer patients for free.
The piece is called "How advisers can help cancer patients tackle financial distress," and it is written for other financial advisors. It describes the work of the Foundation for Financial Planning and their Pro Bono for Cancer Campaign. In this program, Financial Planners (professionals who help other people with advice about saving, investing, and spending their money) give free advice to cancer patients about their finances.
As the Pro Bono for Cancer site says, financial issues are the second most frequent cause of distress among cancer patients. That makes sense. Even for people with private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid (in the U.S.), cancer can keep patients and their caregivers from working, can create unexpected bills, and can cause financial problems of all kinds.
Cancer patients are almost 3 times more likely to go bankrupt than people the same age who do mot have cancer.
The Pro Bono for Cancer program will provide planning advice for patients. As we all know, most of us have other things on our minds, and that kind of planning might be more than we can handle. Some help there would be great for lots of people.
But what about help with money for paying bills?
There are a few places FL patients can turn for help. If you're in that situation, and you need assistance, look into these programs:
The Lymphoma Research Foundation offers support for paying for treatments.
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society can help with co-pays, travel, and other urgent needs.
Cancer. net has a list of other general cancer-related organizations that offer different types of assistance.
Many companies that make Lymphoma treatments offer programs that assist patients with cost. They are easy enough to find online, and your oncologist's office might be able to help find them, too. I'll give you a quick example -- Rituxan, since that was the treatment I had (though I didn't use this program to help with payments). The manufacturer will help with co-pays.
In the last few years, I've been trying to learn and write more about emotional and mental health for Follicular Lymphoma patients. Those issues get ignored a lot.
Lately, I've been trying to learn more about financial issues, too. I've been very lucky that FL hasn't had too big a problem for me financially. But it certainly affects others.
More and more Lymphoma advocates are pointing out financial issues. Treatments have to show what kinds of physical toxicity that patients can expect (physical side effects), but we don't hear much about what is called "Financial Toxicity." New treatments can help us live longer, but patients need to know the financial cost. It's a major Quality of Life consideration.
I hope none of you reading is having Financial Toxicity problems, and if you are, I hope you're finding resources to help you.
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