TL;DR: Parents are both disabled, but even with a house from a living trust, pensions, disability, and very conservative spending, medical costs put total expenses well over 3000 bucks into the red every month. Decent sized 401ks will not last long at this bleeding-out rate. We are looking at long-term solutions, radical though they may be.
Hi, My parents are basically in the situation I described above. My dad was diagnosed 15 years ago with polyneuropathy of idiopathic origin, possbly automimmune. At the time, he was referred from Emory Hospital to Mayo Clinic, seen by all the best doctors in America, and essentially put on long-term pain control as no options currently exist for curing this.
His treatment includes Oxycontin (which cannot be purchased Generic, and he is the only patient his neurologist has on this medicine). He has tried morphine, hydromorphone, etc, etc, etc... Basically it just doesn't work. His doctors at both the pain control clinic and his neurologist agree this is basically the available option to treat his type and level of pain. Even with insurance, co-pay on this is often absurd.
Additionally, he has had to go to the hospital for occasional exotic infections, fungal and the like.
Mayo clinic, 15 years ago, predicted 6 months to 2 years to live. You're talking about someone living well past life expectancy.
In addition, my mom started having COPD a few years ago, and had to retire from her job. She has applied for disability, gotten the initial denial, waiting for the period to re-apply with her lawyer, etc, etc.
They're both in their 60s, so all this could go on a lot longer.
Fortunately they both have an above-average amount of savings in 401ks. Also, my grandfather left his house in a living trust so they have a home for as long as my dad is alive. Their non-medical expenses amount to 250 a month in property taxes, cost of food, a little gas to go to the grocery store and my neice's soccer games, and a phone, electric, and internet. However, their medical expenses exceed income from my mom's pension, my dad's social security and the like.
Downsizing homes is out of the question as almost nothing could be found that would be less than 250 USD per month, and the sale price of the house would have to be split with his brothers because he doesn't really OWN it, it is just in trust for his lifetime. (He already lost his own house in the first three years of medical costs 15 years ago). Basically selling his part of the house would buy a little more time, but not sustainability for either of them, and rent anywhere but a ghetto would well exceed the property tax amount of 250 bucks and just burn money faster. Mom is 60, dad is 67, so sustainability is important at this point.
The situation is kind of grim, losing 3000 dollars per month. Every way I look at all this, it doesn't seem like there's any way to make the numbers work out, no matter what is cut. Basically, my dad wanted to take in his healthy cat to have it put to sleep because he can no longer afford food costs for the cat. I had not known until then how severe their financial straits were. Medical costs are fixed, so one idea we've floated around is just moving them abroad.
They actually have cobra insurance for now (at 1100 per month), but even so, co-pays and such end up very VERY high. (Example, oxycontin in 6 months cost 10,000 dollars one year due to insurance's limits on numbers of pills, regardless of doctor's prescription). One company said they would make generic oxycontin, but upon calling them it's not available currently. Of course, there's also my mom's expenses, COPD nebulizer, occasional ER visit if Blood oxygen drops below a certain level, etc, etc. When it's medical, it all costs more than most prudent people could ever save, and very quickly.
Has anyone got any experience with Malaysia or otherwise for this kind of situation? Are there any serious solutions or options available in the USA for this kind of situation?
Any genuine contributions of what to set up and how to do it would be appreciated.
https://ift.tt/eA8V8J Submitted September 27, 2018 at 09:36AM by phdinfunk https://ift.tt/2OPVbHW
