A friend in FL needs surgery.  She has no insurance and little income.  What programs are available?
451164
Florida:  \n\nAgency for Health Care Administration of Florida - Low-income programs (such as Medicaid) to help pay medical bills.\n \nAreas Covered:\n FL\n \nRegions:\n IV\n \nAddress:\n P.O. Box 13000\nTallahassee, FL 32317-3000\n \n\nGeneral Professional Contact\nP.O. Box 13000\nTallahassee, FL 32317-3000\nLocal: 1-850-488-3560\nTollfree: In-State Calls Only 1-866-465-2640\nFax: 1-850-488-2520\nHours: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm ET\nWeb site: www.ahca.com\n \n\nGeorgia:
1034660
I found two websites that may be of some help to you or possibly lead you in the right direction.Patient Advocate Foundation\nwww.patientadvocate.org\nOr call: 800.532.5274\n*Provides education, legal counseling, and referrals concerning financial issues.\nCancerCare\nwww.cancercare.org\nOr call: 800.813.4673\nProvides financial assistance and referrals.\n\nPlease let me know if these do not get you help. My mother passed away in Sept from breast cancer. She waited too long to get treated and had insurance. Go figure....I wish I could help financially, but cannot. I will do whatever to help you find resources. Good luck.
120844
the US government has many low income health plans. find one in your area and apply! than your foot surgery would be cheap!
992947
First off, he needs to see a different doctor. You might check with a local free clinic to see what they would recommend. You don't say where you live, but here in Dallas we have a county hospital that takes lower income patients without any insurance plans.\n\nMy prayers are with you.
152092
Try contacting your local medicaid office.  You could also ask if there are any financial assistance programs at the facility where you are receiving your care.  Sometimes hospitals, have state representatives that can screen you for medicaid and other programs.
201650
I would check with the outreach program at your nearest hospital.  They should be able to help you.
730022
Other than paying for surgery you can't
502470
check out www.needymeds.com
476624
When it comes to your health, cheap isn't always the best way to go.  What is more important is to check around about the reputation of the surgeon you want to use.  What will cost you even more than the surgeon are the hospital expenses so you might want to check into those as well.\n\nDo you have any low income clinics in your area?  Might be worthwhile to hook up with one of them.  They work specifically with those that don't have money to be sure that they get the health care they need.  It could end up costing you very little.
895880
free surgery in this era? unfortunately I doubt it is possible, nothing ahppens for free in this country, if our cataracts are very symptomatic then you could consider some sort of a payment plan with the hospitals, otherwise wait to get medicare, good luck
821642
Contact your local or state dental association and and see if there are any dentists who provide free or reduced cost care for low-income, disabled or senior patients.\n\nCall your local health department and ask about health centers that provide dental care for free or on a sliding scale.\n\nYour local United Way may also be aware of such a clinic.  In some areas, you can reach them now by dialing 2-1-1 for "non-emergency information."\n\nGo to a dental school, if there is one near you, for reduced costs.\n\nCheck http://www.toothwoman.net to see if low-cost or free dental services are available near you.\n\nCheck http://bphc.hrsa.gov and choose "Find a Health Center" to see if there is a low-cost clinic near you.
13091
Check out India.  I'm not kidding.  They had a special on Dateline or 60 minutes about uninsured people going to India and paying about a 10th of the price and recovery time is in a resort.
43446
All anyone can do for you my friend is encourage you to see a doctor and pray for you - which I shall do.  If you don't have the money for medical care please visit social services as they may be able to help you financially.
512630
There is a lower costing health insurance called KChip that is just for children. I don't know if it is just available in my state of Kentucky but you could type it in the search engine and they might have something similiar in FL for you.
627442
Schedule the surgery!  You can go to the local public assistance office and they will help you find programs including theirs which will help your family with food stamps, money, medical, heat assistance and phone bill assistance if you qualify and it sounds like you would with him out that long.  If he has any sick time, he needs to take it, he can take a leave of absence for illness for 3 months under the family leave act, he wouldn't get paid but he'd keep his job.  \n\nThe surgery might be outpatient so it would be the 1 day.  Some of the public assistance programs when you apply go back to the day you apply or at least 30 days back, so if it wasn't covered now by medicaid it would be retroactively covered.  They might give you a temp card too so they would bill medicaid and it would be paid at a later date.  \n\nYou can talk to the hospital about the bill too, they can set it up so you'd make small payments or even to bill the medicaid at a later date.  \n\nTo survive in the meantime, do you belong to a church?  any organizations?  The red cross and some of the churches sometimes take up fundraisers or give donations to family to help them recover from illness so that can be an option while waiting for the public assistance.\n\nhttp://www.okhca.org/client/eligibility/apply.asp  you can apply here\n\nCall these numbers to ask what you can do:\n\nOklahoma Health Care Authority\n4545 N. Lincoln, Suite 124\nOklahoma City, OK 73105\n405-522-7300\nAdministers Oklahoma's Medicaid Program.\n\nWho to Call with Questions About Medicaid:\n\nMedicaid Eligibility Questions\nCall your DHS county office.\n\nSooner Care Helpline\n800-987-7767\n800-757-5979 TTY\nGeneral questions, enrollment information, benefits information for CHOICE members.\n\nHealth Plan Member Services Numbers:\nSoonerCare Plus members can call their plan numbers for benefits information, billing problems, transportation for medical services and with other questions.\n\nBlueLincs: 800-580-6202 or 800-722-0353 TTY\nCommunity Care: 800-900-2690 or 800-522-8506 TTY\nHeartland: 800-492-7639 or 800-722-0353 TTY\nPrime Advantage: 800-559-5532 or 888-541-3097 TTY\n\n\nTransportation Arrangements:\nCHOICE members call Sooner Ride at 1-877-404-4500 or 918-584-7209 TTY. Plus members go through their health plans (see above).\n\nBill Information:\nCHOICE members call Customer Services at 1-800-522-0310 or 405-522-7179 TTY. Plus members can contact their health plans directly (see numbers above).
17322
Many hospitals offer free care if you qualify. Your local hospital social services department may have an application for this. The social services department may also be able to tell you where there is a free clinic in your area. Give them a call and see what options they have to help you. If you live in a small town call a hospital in the nearest large city to you. If they don't have a program to help you, you can always go to the emergency room. You should not let these medical problems go untreated.
1009873
Your local social services agency can help her see if she is qualified for free medicaid/medical care.  She may need to provide alot of paperwork and documentation, but it may mean her life in the long run.  If you can, help her work thru the process.