I’m Erin, Cancer Legal Care’s Senior Attorney and Manager of our ICARE program. I’m excited to be officially kicking off Cancer Legal Care’s spring fundraising campaign! Over the next few weeks, you’re going to hear some pretty amazing stories from clients about the work we do here. I hope you’ll donate to keep this work free and accessible, especially since there’s a $10,000 match available for the month of May for new or increased donations.
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For now, I get to start this fundraising campaign by sharing some numbers from the ICARE program. As you read these, keep in mind that these numbers are for the last four months alone, which is pretty incredible.
As you probably know, the ICARE program helps people with cancer and their families get the benefits they’ve paid for from things like health insurance, life insurance, and short- and long-term disability insurance. We also help resolve healthcare provider billing issues.
I’ll start with the number that looks the smallest, but is still very meaningful to our clients: $3,694.61.
That $3,694.61 is the amount we saved two clients by helping them fix provider billing issues. These clients were going to have to pay out-of-pocket for charges they were not responsible for, because of billing errors. While three thousand dollars may not sound like a lot to some people, cancer is a very expensive disease, and these smaller charges can really add up if they’re not resolved. And out of principle, they can really weigh on someone’s mind because no one should have to pay for incorrect charges.
The next number is $57,000. This one was a long-term disability insurance issue. This client’s long-term disability company agreed the client was disabled and qualified for the payment, but they held up approval and payment of the $57,000 claim based on a technicality. The client’s benefits had been delayed since Sept 2021, and I’m unsure when or if they ever would have been paid without our help.
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Next up: $215,617.97. The two clients in these cases were not going to get their life insurance benefits paid to them at all, either because of claim denials or confusion over policy requirements. Instead, with our help, they received the money they were owed, totaling $215,617.97.
And last but not least, the biggest number: $432,003.70. These clients’ health insurance denied coverage for their claims, so they were either going to have to pay out of pocket or decide to forego the treatment that their oncologist recommended. Had they needed to pay out of pocket, it would have totaled an overwhelming $432,003.70. Instead, their critical health care was covered.
These are just the statistics. The people and stories behind each of these victories matter, and over the coming weeks you’ll hear from some of them. For now, I hope you’ll consider increasing your gift, or becoming a donor, to make these wins possible for others.
