Safety Net? What Safety Net?

Well as if what we are going through is not enough we just found out that my mother's chemo really is not covered by the safety net. It gets really complicated so bare with me here. My mothers doctor told her before she lost her TennCare that his relationship with her would not change when she lost her TennCare. Wonderful man, got into medicine for the right reasons it seems. Before my mother's TennCare stopped her doctor stopped giving her Chemo in his office. Instead he sent her over to the local hospital for the Chemo. This meant admitting her for the day, she received her treatment (which takes much longer then when it was in his office) then she goes home. The doctor said it was because TennCare was not paying the bills in a timely manner. When I asked him about the safety net for when she did lose TennCare he said that it would not cover many chemo visits and of course does not cover a CatScan to see her progress while under Chemo treatments. He would have to treat her symptoms. So, what was he telling me? At the time I thought that meant that he would give her the Chemo under the safety net when she lost her TennCare and then when that run out (1 visit) we would just have to cross that bridge then.

Surprise for the Hospital!
Turns out that when my mother lost her TennCare the local hospital started absorbing the cost. Why were they doing that? Well they did not even know they were doing that until TennCare refused their claim. (Guess the doctors office did not pass that on to them). That is when the hospital first found out she no longer had TennCare. Then they called me and asked how we were going to pay it. My response was, well isn't she on the safety net? Poor hospital staff had no idea what I was talking about. In fact they told me she did not qualify for the safety net. Later I got a call from a sweet lady from the Safety Net program. I told her what was going on and boy did I get the truth. She said that of course my mother qualified for the safety net. Seems lots of doctors including my mother's doctor was not going to participate in the Safety Net program at all! She was so distressed about it herself. She thought she was helping but none of the doctors she was contacting were cooperating with her. She was even looking forward to the end of her own job over this mess. The doctors were not even bothering to call the Safety Net people back when they called the doctors office. She did not understand completely why they would not participate or even call her back. She said the Safety Net money can not go to the hospitals it must go to a doctor so the hospital does not get that money. If it is such a small amount (which she confirmed) it would not cover the cost of one Chemo treatment, especially in a hospital. The money goes away in June even if you wait till later to try and use it. The doctor knew the Safety Net was a net with holes too big to help catch my mother. So, guess the doctor had a plan after all.

Prove you are Poor forms
The hospital sent me some forms to fill out once they figured out mother could not pay for her Chemo visits. These forms are for financial aid, which we may or may not qualify for as they do not list the requirements on their form. Remember I told you my mother does not qualify for Chemo at the Health Department because she lives with me. Guess what else, they would not give her a CatScan either at the Health Department. Could they kill her with too much Chemo?