Tips for Dealing with the Financial Burden of Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis takes its toll on nearly everything in your life. Relationships, work, school, personal privacy, health, etc. And finances are no exception. Being diagnosed with UC means higher medical bills, and this, on top of all the other problems that the condition can cause, induces stress. Stress, in turn, makes your ulcerative colitis worse. It can be a long and slippery slope, and it is scary.

When I was diagnosed with UC, I did have health insurance. The problem was that the deductible was $5,000. Until my bills went over that amount, everything was on me. All the doctor's visits, the medication, the procedures. And, as a young person facing college, that was one of the scariest things. Not only was I looking at major expenses in the extremely near future, but according to my doctor, for the rest of my life. He said that I would be this way forever, and that I was much more likely to end up with a horrible and expensive condition like colon cancer later in life. Fantastic. I was devastated, and feeling alone and helpless. I did discover a slight way to ease the financial pain at the time of the diagnosis, however. My insurance coverage was so terrible, that I actually benefited more from telling the doctor's office that I had no insurance at all. That way, the office would only charge me $500 for the diagnostic colonoscopy, as opposed to a much higher figure. The downside? The amount I was paying would not count with my insurance company as going against my deductible. I weighed my options, and decided that it would be best to go with the lower priced procedure, mostly because it was in the latter half of the year, and I couldn't see myself actually burning through the $5000 before January. Luckily, I was right.

It has been almost four years since my diagnosis, and I still have the same crappy health insurance. Why? Why would I keep that terrible coverage knowing that I would potentially be facing massive medical expenses at any time due to my condition? The short answer is: I can't afford anything better right now. I hope that at some point our country decides that low-income families deserve to be healthy, too. That health insurance and pharmaceutical companies don't need to run the medical industry, and that medicinal care should be provided to everyone. However, until that time, here are some tips to help keep your bills down.

Evaluate your options - Is it better to claim that you don't have insurance?

Free/Low Cost Clinics - While these clinics cannot always help with everything you might need as a UC patient, they can be a cost effective way to get check-ups and minor help.

Generic Prescriptions - Steroids and Sulphasalazine can be expensive. See if the pharmacy has a generic version that would cost less.

Manage Symptoms - Learn to manage your symptoms as much as possible to be able to stay out of the doctor's office. What foods give you flare-ups? Avoid them. Try to keep your stress level down to avoid aggravating your symptoms.

Ulcerative colitis is hard enough to deal with regardless of financial strain. With a little strategy and some luck, you don't have to let it break you.