Mass. Marine Trying To Get Home For Cancer Treatment

NBPD336 said:
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2010/12/03/mass-marine-trying-to-get-home-for-cancer-treatment/

Can anyone tell me why it would cost $20,000? I personally think the VA should pay for it.
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It is not apparent that she is getting care by the VA. It sort of looks like she is getting dependent benefits under tri-care and they have declined the flight. I think most insurance would only cover the flight if it were for medical care that one could not get at their present location.
 
She's already closer to Boston than from Manchester. An ambulance ride in a back module could do the job.
 
bbchien said:
She's already closer to Boston than from Manchester. An ambulance ride in a back module could do the job.
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????? The article say she is in a Jacksonville, North Carolina hospital.
 
I think she is in NC and her mother is in Manchester.
 
ScottM said:
It is not apparent that she is getting care by the VA. It sort of looks like she is getting dependent benefits under tri-care and they have declined the flight. I think most insurance would only cover the flight if it were for medical care that one could not get at their present location.
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Bingo! Her mother wants her in Boston, close to "home" (her mother's home, not the daughter's). It has nothing to do with access to medical care.
 
kkoran said:
Bingo! Her mother wants her in Boston, close to "home" (her mother's home, not the daughter's). It has nothing to do with access to medical care.
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Well it also has to do with treatment at Dana Farber a premier cancer treatment center, which I suspect can give her a bit more advanced care than she could get in Jacksonville NC, near camp Lejune.

We have done similar transports before ( EdFred and Kelvin have to be exact) but if the patient can't take the vibration of a commercial flight she sure couldn't tolerate a GA flight. To that end I'm not sure how an air ambulance would be any smoother.
 
AdamZ said:
Well it also has to do with treatment at Dana Farber a premier cancer treatment center, which I suspect can give her a bit more advanced care than she could get in Jacksonville NC, near camp Lejune
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Dana Farber is, in fact, one heck of a treatment center, coupled with facilities at BI, Brigham, and MGH.

IIRC, air ambulance offers the ability to put the pt in a more comfortable stretcher with appropriate monitoring, plus support staff/systems.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
AdamZ said:
Well it also has to do with treatment at Dana Farber a premier cancer treatment center, which I suspect can give her a bit more advanced care than she could get in Jacksonville NC, near camp Lejune.
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I'd agree about Jacksonville, but not NC in general. With UNC, Duke, and Wake Forest, I assume the state has some highly-rated cancer facilities. I doubt Ted Kennedy went to Duke for surgery because he wanted mediocre treatment.
 
This is very typical of the medical treatment we give our troupes, the VA will not do certain procedures that are considered experimental. that is why she must seek treatment out side the Military medical facilities.
 
Tom-D said:
This is very typical of the medical treatment we give our troupes, the VA will not do certain procedures that are considered experimental. that is why she must seek treatment out side the Military medical facilities.
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You are mixing a lot of things there Tom.

The VA is not the military medical system. There are two separate systems. The military system is the one that maintains the hospitals on the bases for the active duty and their dependents. It is funded by the Department of Defense and has some famous hospital in their system like Walter Reed, Brooks, etc.

The Veterans Administration hospital system is part of the Department of Veterans Affairs and is funded through that system. The people in the VA system are vets and not active duty. Often times the active duty will transfer their patients via a discharge from active duty to get them into the VA systems.

It is not clear exactly what system this former Marine is in. I am guessing that since her husband is still on active duty that she is likely using the DoD hospital via her dependent benefits and not the VA system. I could be wrong. But to get into the VA one usually has to show either a lack of other medical resources and honorable service or be service connected injured.
 
ScottM said:
You are mixing a lot of things there Tom.

The VA is not the military medical system. There are two separate systems. The military system is the one that maintains the hospitals on the bases for the active duty and their dependents. It is funded by the Department of Defense and has some famous hospital in their system like Walter Reed, Brooks, etc.

The Veterans Administration hospital system is part of the Department of Veterans Affairs and is funded through that system. The people in the VA system are vets and not active duty. Often times the active duty will transfer their patients via a discharge from active duty to get them into the VA systems.

It is not clear exactly what system this former Marine is in. I am guessing that since her husband is still on active duty that she is likely using the DoD hospital via her dependent benefits and not the VA system. I could be wrong. But to get into the VA one usually has to show either a lack of other medical resources and honorable service or be service connected injured.
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Your splitting hairs, neither will do experimental medicine.

I've been in both systems, and the care sux at any military or VA hospital.

that's why I, as a retired vet must carry extra medical insurance even on top of medicare and by the way all government health care stops at 65 for all vets. medicare takes over.

I'm here, and I know my benefits

and by the way, military bases will not treat family or dependents any more, they are sent to the local medical facility. NAS Whidbey won't even treat active duty any more they all go to Whidbey general or Madigan. Army medical center.

If the local medical facility uses any thing that is not approved by the military, the cost are out of pocket for the active duty person.
 
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kkoran said:
I'd agree about Jacksonville, but not NC in general. With UNC, Duke, and Wake Forest, I assume the state has some highly-rated cancer facilities. I doubt Ted Kennedy went to Duke for surgery because he wanted mediocre treatment.
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True but also many medical centers specialize in a specific type of cancer or tumor treatment. For example Univ of Penn Has a very advanced Lymphoma treatment program, Thomas Jefferson Univ Hospital in Philly has a very good program for Pancreatic Cancers. We have flown kids on Angel Flights from PHilly to Boston Childerns or Mass General even though Philly has one of the top Children's hospitals in the country because this particlar type of tumor was part of a big program up in Boston. I think MD Anderson in Houston has a big program for Liver cancer. Who knows I just hope this woman can get to the care she needs.
 
There are a number of charity flight organizations, some of which use comfortable corporate jets, some of which specialize in getting veterans where they need to go. I hope these people will check out the Air Care Alliance which serves as an umbrella organization for many of them.
 
Tom-D said:
Your splitting hairs, neither will do experimental medicine.
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I am not splitting hairs, I am stating a fact. They are two separate systems.

Tom-D said:
I've been in both systems, and the care sux at any military or VA hospital.
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Me too. The VA care I have gotten and my step-dad got was fantastic. High quality, consistent and modern.

Tom-D said:
that's why I, as a retired vet must carry extra medical insurance even on top of medicare and by the way all government health care stops at 65 for all vets. medicare takes over.
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I know some that do and many that don't I also know a lot of non-vets who have to carry extra insurance.

Tom-D said:
I'm here, and I know my benefits

and by the way, military bases will not treat family or dependents any more, they are sent to the local medical facility. NAS Whidbey won't even treat active duty any more they all go to Whidbey general or Madigan. Army medical center.
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I mentioned Tricare, which is what the dependents are covered under. But I know a few hospitals that are still treating dependents. I think the decisions come down to location of the base, availability of civilian medical facilities and level of quality of the civilian facilitates.

Tom-D said:
YourIf the local medical facility uses any thing that is not approved by the military, the cost are out of pocket for the active duty person.
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Same thing with private insurance, your point?
 
ScottM said:
I mentioned Tricare, which is what the dependents are covered under. But I know a few hospitals that are still treating dependents. I think the decisions come down to location of the base, availability of civilian medical facilities and level of quality of the civilian facilitates.
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IIRC, the military hospitals in San Antonio see dependents. At least that is my recollection (a friend works there).

I've heard varying reports of VA's. Boston VA? Sucks. Augusta, ME VA? Great. Richmond VA? Great. I think the facility has a lot to do with it. But I'm not a vet, and these comments are all second-hand.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
astanley said:
I've heard varying reports of VA's. Boston VA? Sucks. Augusta, ME VA? Great. Richmond VA? Great. I think the facility has a lot to do with it. But I'm not a vet, and these comments are all second-hand.
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There are varying degrees of customer satisfaction. That would be true for anything. I used Bay Pines in FL and Hines in IL. I prefer Bay Pines but both are good. What sucks about the VA is that when you are using it you are sick and there are a ton of people using it too. The clinic are always crowded. Mt step dad was spending a lot of inpatient time there towards the end. The rooms were nice, many were private too. The nicest thing about the VA was his end of life care. He wanted to do hospice in his apartment. The VA is not set up for that so they helped me transfer him to a civilian hospice that gave him the in apartment care he needed.
 
ScottM said:
There are varying degrees of customer satisfaction. That would be true for anything. I used Bay Pines in FL and Hines in IL. I prefer Bay Pines but both are good. What sucks about the VA is that when you are using it you are sick and there are a ton of people using it too. The clinic are always crowded. Mt step dad was spending a lot of inpatient time there towards the end. The rooms were nice, many were private too. The nicest thing about the VA was his end of life care. He wanted to do hospice in his apartment. The VA is not set up for that so they helped me transfer him to a civilian hospice that gave him the in apartment care he needed.
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You will find you are not the norm.
 
ScottM said:
I have been in the VA system for 24 years thanks to a service connected injury. I know lots of people who are generally satisfied with the VA care.
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I spend about 20 hours per week in the Veterans affairs office, helping file paper work to get the vets the medical help they need, and I know a lot of vets that think you are wrong
 
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