Living Far from Healing Clinics

23 February 2012
10:25 PM

Sunrise at	8:23 AM	in direction	112°	East-southeast
Sunset at	5:47 PM	in direction	249°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 9 hours, 24 minutes (6 minutes, 48 seconds longer than yesterday)

My husband is interested in using an alternative method for healing, Insulin Potentiate Therapy,  rather than conventional medicine.  Since his cancer is recurring and his body did not respond to the clinical trial BCG, his urologist is recommending removal of his bladder.  I think we get good medical care in Anchorage, and I think Dr. Clark is an able urologist, but I want to have a second opinion about possible therapies and I also want Gary to have a chance to have an constructive surgery result in a neo bladder, entirely comfortable and natural in his body.  He wants to forego surgery entirely and use the alternative.

Today I made a few calls to an MD in Washington that makes use of the healing methods that has not found its way into main stream medical practice.  There are several practitioners of the Insulin Potentiate Therapy method whereby chemotherapy drugs are administered in smaller doses while also administrating beneficial alternatives, such as Vitamin C IV and the core of the IPT.   There was one in Anchorage, but he felt his medical license was on the line and stopped.

So, I called and found that the IPT will cost $2000/ treatment and the first round is six treatments.  Gary would need to live close by for daily treatments for 3 - 6 weeks.  By the time everything was totaled into the treatment we were looking at $25,000 to $30,000, not including the cost to live there for however long treatments continued.

I tried to find out how much they estimated would be covered by insurance.  The clinic itself refused to give me any information on that.  They require payment up front for all services and we then would use a medical billing company to seek reimbursement from the insurance company.  There was no way to make an estimate of the actual cost because it would vary based on treatment plan and daily interactions with the therapies.  They do not assume anti-nausea drugs, for example, but it could be one day that type of medication was needed.  Very quickly I began to feel it was far out of our reach.

Then I talked with two medical billing companies, one of whom had no experience with the clinic as his company had just begun to work with them, and one who had submitted to Premera for other patients.  The first had a clear understanding of what types of things he could bill, but no feedback from patients yet.  The second had direct experience.  She has not had denials on claims that she submitted, but her client told her that the out-of-pocket expenses were about half of the total bill.

The University of Washington is 6th in the US for research and treatment of cancer.  So we are fortunate in that we have a good facility as close as a 3.5 hour flight, but it still would mean the cost of living in Seattle while Gary is treated, which ever treatment plan is followed.

All this comes down to the basic fact that if you want a second opinion, you have to leave the state in order to get that second opinion.  Perhaps that would be necessary in the lower 48 too, but we did have an excellent urologist in Denver and we were able to do everything that needed to be done right there.   Several competent medical practitioners, each having a large population base to serve, have more opportunity to see the effects of many types of treatments.

I don't know what we are going to do.  We can not afford the alternative method, nor is borrowing money for it possible in that we will not be in the work force another 10 years and we probably would not get it paid off before retirement.  At least I hope I am not in the work force another ten years.  I would like to write novels, and work free lance into my elder years - but you get the idea.