5 Tips To Treat Lyme When You’re on a Budget
By Jenny Lelwica Buttaccio
One widespread issue among patients trying to recover from Lyme disease is the lack of finances to continue treatment for months and years at a time. With dwindling bank accounts, many people are forced to decide between seeking quality treatment, paying their rent or mortgage, or putting food on the table. The struggle is all too real for those living with persistent Lyme disease symptoms.
However, a few strategies may make managing treatment costs just a little easier. Here are five tips to treat Lyme when you’re on a budget.
5 Tips To Treat Lyme When You’re on a Budget
1. Look Into Financial Assistance and Free Programs.
Here’s a list of five organizations dedicated to helping Lyme patients receive accurate testing, treatment, and medications.
Lyme-Tap
As a nationwide patient-assistance program, Lyme-Tap provides need-based financial assistance to people for initial Lyme-related testing. Resources are available on a first come, first served basis, and preference is given to children under 18 years of age. Please note: Lyme-Tap doesn’t pay for insurance deductibles.
RxAssist
RxAssist is a curated database of information from pharmaceutical companies and additional sources to help patients get medications at a reduced cost. Patients may qualify for this program if they meet the income guidelines and have no prescription drug coverage. In hardship circumstances, an insured person may still qualify for assistance.
INHS Medical Entomology Program (Illinois Residents)
The INHS Medical Entomology Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign provides free tick identification. Illinois residents may mail their loose and unattached ticks to Holly Tuten, PhD, for information on what type of tick they’ve encountered. Residents can also email Dr. Tuten a picture of an attached tick, and she can identify those. Dr. Tuten can be reached at: htuten@illinois.edu
LymeLight Foundation
Offering grant opportunities to children and adults through age 25, LymeLight Foundation has been assisting those with Lyme for more than a decade. An applicant must be under the care of a Lyme-literate health care provider and be a U.S. resident. The maximum lifetime grant awarded to an individual is $10,000.
GoodRx
Many people aren’t aware that the cost of medications can vary significantly from one location to another. GoodRx compares prices and discounts from pharmacies all across the country so that patients can locate the lowest prices on their prescriptions. These discounts and coupons can be used whether you have insurance or not. (GoodRx was a lifesaver for me during gaps in my health coverage.)
2. Know What Your Insurance Plan Covers.
For most people, doctor visits with a Lyme-literate practitioner won’t be in-network with an insurance plan. But with the rise of telehealth services, some plans are now willing to provide certain types of reimbursement for virtual appointments (such as partial reimbursement). This may offset the cost of an out-of-network Lyme provider as well as reduce travel expenses for a doctor that’s not local.
Additionally, check which medications your insurance will pay for in advance. Not long ago, I was surprised to learn that my plan covered all but $10 of a $1200 drug. However, it didn’t cover any of the cost of a $200 antibiotic. Knowing which medications my insurance did and didn’t cover allowed me to examine the discount coupons I mentioned above, other prospective drugs, and herbal medications to see what was the most affordable for me.
3. Pair Down Your Supplements.
In a world with unlimited financial resources, you would be able to purchase every supplement your doctor recommends. Unfortunately, for many, this isn’t realistic. After several years of exhausting money on supplements that I couldn’t tolerate or didn’t work for me, I began asking my doctor to pick the top two supplement recommendations they felt were most important for my current treatment protocol. In this way, I was able to tell which supplements were helping me and which ones were ineffective. Over time, I’ve slowly created a helpful, supportive list of supplements that’s in the price range I can afford.
4. Resist the Urge To Hop on a Treatment Bandwagon.
As others invest in expensive endeavors, it’s easy to fear you’re missing out on a potentially life-changing treatment. I’ve been in that position many times. But over the years, I’ve learned to watch and ask others how they’re doing with their treatments before jumping into something new. My funds have always been limited, so I like to wait and see how people are doing 6 months after a new treatment. Sometimes, I wait even longer. Although the wait is painful at times, this allows me to see if a treatment trend has helped several people before making a decision if it’s something I want to pursue for my healing.
5. Prepare for Your Doctor’s Appointments.
Although many Lyme physicians will give you more face-to-face time than an average health care provider, it’s still easy to leave an appointment feeling as though you weren’t able to ask all the questions you wanted to ask.
To help organize your thoughts, consider writing your questions in a notebook or on your phone as soon as they pop into your head. Then, the night before an appointment, organize those questions and bring them with you. Before your time with the doctor comes to an end, take a look at your notebook and make sure the most pressing issues have been addressed so that you can leave the appointment with a solid plan.
By doing this, you may be able to reduce back-and-forth email exchanges that can sometimes hike up the bill. Plus, a more thorough plan might mean you can schedule your follow-up visits further apart (like every three months instead of two). This could substantially lower your treatment costs in the long run.
Affording ongoing treatment is no easy task, but chip away at it as best you can. You might discover that a few, simple tricks can reduce the hefty price tag of treating Lyme and make it a little more sustainable for you.
