Hampton group helps those lacking health insurance

May was shaping up to be a bad month for Cindy Jones.

She felt worn out by years of three-hour chemotherapy sessions, taken every other week to fight colon cancer.

She felt worn down by her medical bills: $500 for each session after Medicare paid its portion, mounting to a debt of more than $4,000 to be paid from her disability income.

"Do I go on with chemo?" the Virginia Beach resident wondered. "Do I quit chemo because I can't pay for it? Are the doctors going to kick me out the door because I can't pay their bills?"

Her feelings spilled out on a Facebook blog for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Someone there directed Jones to help: the Patient Advocate Foundation.

Based in Hampton, the national not-for-profit group provides free aid to people who are uninsured or underinsured and experiencing problems accessing or paying for health care.

Since 2007, the foundation has administered the Virginia Cares Uninsured Program, an offering funded by state and federal money that assists patients struggling with chronic and severe ailments.

"Our goal is to ensure access to care," said Erin Moaratty, a foundation spokeswoman.

Doug Gray, executive director of the Virginia Association of Health Plans, said his group favors efforts to keep people insured.

"Their services are helpful to the patient," he said, "and that's a good thing."

In the past year, the Virginia program, known as VCUP, helped 1,425 new patients, relieving them of nearly $3.4 million in obligations through charity care, write-offs or payments from an insurance company to a provider or patient. The program has assisted more than 3,000 people in its three years.

Each patient is assigned a case manager who writes letters, completes applications and mediates with drug companies, housing assistance programs and others. VCUP has an annual budget of about $470,000 and a staff of nine, who are assisted by the foundation's subject-matter experts on more difficult cases.

It usually takes around 45 days and 18 conversations on the patient's behalf to find a resolution, said Beth Patterson, the foundation's president of mission delivery.

Not every problem is solved.

"I would say, sadly, that the most frequent resolution that we see is approval for charity care programs and/or provider or facility write-offs," she said, "and that is really tough."

Lately, Virginia's program has heard most from people affected by large-scale layoffs or closures, such as at the International Paper mill outside Franklin - people who normally wouldn't be uninsured, but are becoming frantic as their coverage ends, Patterson said.

Most VCUP patients are between 45 and 65 years old, with household incomes under $24,000 a year. More than half suffer from cancer or a chronic and debilitating condition, such as diabetes, lupus or arthritis.

Jones was a prime candidate for the program and the foundation's other offerings, which include a co-pay relief program to help patients pay for their prescriptions.

She received a call from Judith Storey, a case manager, within two days of her Facebook post.

Within a week, Storey had arranged for a $400 grant to help Jones pay for travel to her appointments.

About two weeks later, after gathering documents, compiling applications and making phone calls, they learned more good news.

Jones had been awarded $4,500 from the HealthWell Foundation to cover bills that had been outstanding since March.

It was also enough to pay for a few months of future treatments. Storey said she hoped to get Jones on another program after that.

"I felt relief," Jones, 51, said. "I was just really happy that there was something out there that could be done."

Amy Jeter, (757) 446-2730, amy.jeter@pilotonline.com