I was on disability, then I got booted off due to the old doctors I saw ditzing around with my diagnosis....basically, they did nothing, and I didn't know I had PN, and autoimmune issues.

So, I have not worked for 10 quarters...you lose your elligibility. My docs tell me NOW, I am fully disabled, but now, I would have to go back to work to qualify.

Best I can do now, after 25 years of work, is to live to 62.

So, in short, no, I can't qualify for Medicare until 65. So if hubby retires and the money runs out, I won't get treatment.

If Medicare is going to cover every one, for whatever care they want paid for, I think we had better get used to a substantial raise in medicare taxes, which is fine with me. I do think that some one needs to look at what expenditures are reasonable with medicare. How many opinions should it pay for? What is reasonable care at end of life? How far do we do with heroic efforts that we know will do no good in the long run? How long do we prolong life? These are really heady issues...huge issues. I know of a pacemaker put into an 85+ year old man, with severe dementia...is this reasonable? Would he have wanted that??

I was stuck in a private HMO, while my neuropathy raged, and all they did was tell me EMG normal...for years, I was told I had no autoimmune issues, and I was eating myself up. I was told, Fibro....

When I got to a PPO, I got good care, and they found my neuropathy, and my autoimmune issues. So, care depends a great deal on the resources of the system you are in.

If your system doesn't have the advanced care and won't refer you out, you are screwed.

As a culture, we have a lot to think about. These are very complex issues.

Yes, if the stupid social security examiner had not kicked me off, I would be on disability today. I don't care about the money, but the insurance would be very helpful. Now I don't think I have options.

Going through these threads opens up a BIG can of worms. INSURANCE. I am lucky in that I qualify for Medicare, (what's left of it since the government raids the leftovers every year), and I retired from the state, which gives me a great supplemental insurance to boot. And, the state pays for 80% of the supplemental, and all but a co-pay for drugs. The drug co-pay is 50% of retail up to $50 per script, per month. It is a good thing too, cause the co-pays alone for my wife and I ran almost $5,000 last year. We both have heart trouble. She has diabetes, and reduced kidney function, and I have PN and Waldenstroms. So, I, like so many on this site, would, without insurance, just curl up, and wait for the end.
I too, go through the bills that the providers send Medicare every month, and the difference between what is charged, and what is paid, makes you think you're looking at two different things. Although, you could make a case for either the insurance companies, or the providers, depending on who you are lobbying for. But, what is charged for what is done, in come cases, is idiotic. I developed eruptions (looked like BIG blisters) on my heals, and it has taken 5 months to heal them. White skin developed around the sites as healing began to take place. The podiatrist shaved this off several times as it developed, a process that involved a razor, and about 10 minutes. Charge? $720.00. Now, I will be the first to give credit to the medical professionals for all the work they went through to get their degrees. But, come on now.
The tug of war between the medical profession, and the insurance companies, with us patients in the middle, has got to come to some understanding as to costs, and payments. And, as long as the White House is in the middle of trying to take over our lives with their stupid control of the entire nation, there will never be any decent progress made.
I better get off my soapbox, and go soak my "eruptions" before I get into trouble.
I keep all of my fellow PNers in my prayers. May you too find positive answers for all of your conditions.

I am one of the young(ish) PNers, (50) who is single. I have no spouse to depend on. Due to my PN I lost my job and my insurance, I lost my home, lost my car, and couldn't afford my medication. (Over $800.00 mo.)

I was living on unemployment and ordering my meds through a Canadian pharmacy ($300.00 mo) on line until I could get back to work. After a year and a half, I finally got a temp job, rented a room, and slowly have worked my way back to health.

Now, THREE YEARS later, I finally have a permanent job with a company where I have insurance. I don't know what I would have done if I had not gotten stronger! If I had not have been able to return to work. My unemployment was running out. My parents have both passed, my children are both in their early 20's and not able to support themselves, much less me!

I was spiraling down into a deep depression and it was getting really scary. If I had not gotten better, I guess the next step would have been disability, and some day, that may be my alternative. But for now, I'm strong enough to work every day and carry my own insurance. It is a very scary place to be, right at the edge of that cliff, not sure if you want to depend on the "government" for the rest of your life, or take control of the situation yourself.

The pain is sometimes so intense, and you feel so helpless, unable to walk, to go to the store for yourself, to sometimes even dress yourself. When you have days like that, the idea of having to depend on others to survive is really a lesson in humility! Then to think that you can't afford the medication to stop the pain is just too much to handle.

I have to stay strong enough to work... I have no one to do it for me! ! ! !