seanmdevine

Thank you for your reply Tom. I sincerely appreciate it. I think the problem is exactly as you described. Medicare will not approve a fifth chemo treatment of Cisplatin and Etoposide. His oncologist is pushing through something else that may or may not be chemo and/or immunotherapy. The problem is that he doesn't remember exactly what she said. I'll get to the bottom of it when I have a day off tomorrow. Do the insurance companies not approve chemo after 4 treatments because it will not cure him? The prognosis is not good, I get it, but still it seems a bit inhumane. I'm curious what you think the reasoning is? Thank you,Sean

I haven't been here in a while, I suppose it is because things have been going ok with my father. He has been through 4 rounds of chemo and was scheduled for the fifth this past Monday. The Friday before the oncologist's office called to tell him that his appointment was put on hold due to the fact that his insurance (Medicare) had not approved it thus far. It still has not been approved and his visit to the oncologist yesterday revealed that it most likely will not be approved. 1/ Did they know that this would happen and still scheduled the bloodwork and CT scan anyway? 2/ Is this a normal occurrence for a not curable SCLC patient? To be refused chemo after a set amount of treatment? His insurance says it will only pay for 4 rounds of chemo. If he doesn't get some sort of treatment I suspect he will deteriorate rather quickly. His oncologist has a plan for some other treatment that my dad couldn't remember what it was exactly. I'll find of from my stepmom today. I'm not sure how to proceed. Thank you, Sean