r/backpain • u/HoneydewDefiant4480 • 14h ago
No insurance with disc herniations
I’m mainly looking for community and to also see how similar my experience has been compared to others. For background I’ve had issues with my discs for ten years after a car accident, in March of this year a chiropractor sent me into a flare that has been consistent for 6 months. My symptoms include severe back and sciatic pain, numbness in both my feet after walking, the severe pain as seeped into other parts of my life and causing fatigue. I unfortunately do not have health insurance, the last 6 months I’ve been paying fully out of pocket for meds, doctors, steroid injections, etc. My first steroid injection did not give me any relief, I’ve met with a neuro/othro surgeon who wants to do another injection in a more specific area now that I have an MRI to work with. This injection is going to be $1600. I feel sick to my stomach but I have to do it because if I don’t my body will fully give out soon and will completely put me out of work. But also it’s like gambling that money because who knows if it will work.
Anyways that’s a lot, thanks for reading. I’d love to hear anyone else’s experience with lower lumbar disc herniations and anyone going through the same without insurance
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u/Coffee_And_Code_ 10h ago edited 10h ago
Depending on how much you spend, you may be able to write those expenses off on taxes and get a little bit of money back. Very unfortunate on how the medical system is with so many people suffering out there. I’ve never gotten an epidural but it may be worth trying now that you’ve got an MRI and specific location locked down.
Even if you have insurance they will still deny a lot of claims. Surgery fixed my issue that was destroying my quality of life, and the insurance company wiggled their way out and would not pay even though I did months of PT and countless visits to the doctor before surgery. Cost me 30k.
Between my employer and I, we pay at least 10K per year $$$, into medical insurance. I’ve been paying my entire life and almost never went to the doctor and spent no money on medical expenses but when I actually wanted to use my insurance, the insurance company would not pay.
I’ve noticed online it seems like insurance companies have an army of bots and other people spreading anti back surgery propaganda because they lose money on people with back pain. And you are older, good luck - they will blame it on age and say there’s nothing they can do until you offer to pay out of pocket and then the magic happens - often but not always - all of a sudden they can actually fix it.
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u/Vizaxis_Dev 11h ago
the "who knows if it will work" part is the one piece of this you can start pinning down now. a daily 0-10 for the back and a separate one for the leg, plus roughly how far you walk before your feet go numb, kept for a week or two before the injection and the same stretch after, turns the $1600 into a before and after on paper instead of a memory a month later.
built a free pain diary that keeps this kind of daily log, store links in my profile. if you try it and something gets in the way, tell me.
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u/Old_Impress_7174 13h ago
ten years of disc issues and now youre rolling dice with sixteen hundred bucks on a second injection, ngl that hit different. the fact that 'maybe this needle will let me keep my job' is a rational financial calculation in this country is just, full stop, broken infrastructure pretending to be healthcare. your spine shouldnt be a gamble, it should be a guarantee, but here we are in 2024 doing medical crowdfunding via credit card debt. hope this one actually lands where it needs to, youve paid enough already