Cancer Legal Care

Social security application assistance program (ssaap) -this new program began on january 1, 2023, and is funded in part from a pay-for-performance contract by mn department of human services. However, for clients who are not eligible by dhs services still can be assisted with other funding. This program is a long-asked for service by our clients who are too ill to complete the long, overwhelming, and intimidating application for disability benefits on their own. Since our social security application assistance program began in 2023, clc has closed 80 ssaap matters that involved an application for benefit or appeal, with 76% of these clients successfully receiving ssi or ssdi benefit. Ssdi/ssi issues are now our number one area of client need overall, doubling in number since the program began. On behalf of our clients, we have recovered $788,000 in ssi and ssdi benefits for clients.clc's social security application assistance program is designed to assist cancer patients whose high cost of treatment and inability to work is impacting their economic security. For many cancer patients, social security benefits are essential to the patient's well-being and quality of life. These benefits help to replace income lost when a cancer patient finds themselves no longer able to work (likely at the same time they are being swamped with medical bills). But what we have heard from our clients is that the process of applying for these necessary benefits can be overwhelming, adding another layer of stress to an already challenging time. In response, the social security application assistance program was born to provide more advocacy and support to cancer patients. Our hope is that clc will be able to reduces barriers and stress for disabled cancer patients applying for social security benefits. Eligible clients receive help completing applications and gathering and submitting important evidence. We assist with applications for social security disability benefits (ssdi or rsdi) and supplemental security income (ssi).clc provides thorough and complete legal representation from the start of the application process until the application is approved. Throughout the process, clc will work to ensure that the client's application is timely and properly processed. Cancer patients living in minnesota, 65 and younger, who are no longer able to work, and meet our income guidelines are eligible for the social security application assistance program. Clc will not charge clients or collect a fee from a client's benefits. We assist families who are applying for benefits for their child with cancer, and all services can be provided over the phone. If a client prefers, we can also meet virtually. Ssaap impact:josiah has spent most of his young life with a brain tumor. After months of her concerns about her only child's health being dismissed, gabrielle left her job and took her son directly to the emergency room. At the er josiah was diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer called atypical teratoid rhaboid tumor, or at/rt.gabrielle is now josiah's full-time caregiver, caring for her toddler as he undergoes different types of treatment, including trial therapies that have yet to be tested on children. She never leaves his side even sleeping next to him in his hospital room.when her social worker gave her cancer legal care's business card, gabrielle didn't think she needed help- after all, she had pto and a savings account. So, she put the card in her wallet and left it there. But when gabrielle and josiah were in rochester for six long weeks so he could get radiation treatment, she reached out to cancer legal care to ensure that she could continue to plan for her and her child's future.a cancer legal care attorney helped her submit her ssi application. "i still felt a little scared because it was overwhelming. My lawyer took the time to explain everything to me and to understand in the way i needed to understand. I feel so much more confident because a year ago when we started this, i felt i couldn't do it."josiah is still undergoing treatment, but he is a happy child. He and his mom remain hopeful; they believe miracles happen. The support they got from cancer legal care has allowed gabrielle to not worry about the financial burden of josiah's care so she could focus on him.some words from gabrielle:"what cancer legal care is doing is amazing. They're helping families navigate through the craziest time of their life. They take the time to listen, to help, and to support."

Icare - a significant expansion of our work took place in 2020 with the creation of our icare program under the umbrella of our legal care program offerings. Icare (insurance claim advocacy and resolution) addresses the growing number of health insurance coverage denials due to many factors including shrinking networks and ever-changing pre-authorization requirements. The goal of this work is to make a significant impact on the health and financial well-being of our clients by way of ensuring that their private disability, life, and health insurance covers what they should. To date, 153 matters have been opened, and 143 closed with a 94% successful outcome for our clients their denial being overturned on appeal, coverage reinstated, billing issue corrected, claim processed, or receiving a consultation that resolves the issue they are facing. For 72 of these clients, success included money being protected or recovered, totaling $4,211,877.18 collectively, $58,498.29 on average, ranging from $150 to $565,000. All the icare work is done at no charge and without any income eligibility limitations. Why?1. Very few families could afford an attorney's help in light of cancer's growing financial toxicity.2. Any barrier to reaching out or getting help more often than not becomes a non-starter for people who are at their physical, emotional, and financial breaking point. We know that insurance issues are at the top of the most stressful things our clients face.icare impact:pauline was on a rollercoaster for five years. After her husband dave died of cancer in 2019, their cost sharing ministry insurance plan suddenly stopped paying their medical bills - for seemingly no reason. This left pauline on the hook for over $30,000. Pauline knew she was in the right direction and that the cost-sharing ministry plan should be paying for dave's care, but instead, she was turned over to a collection agency. Luckily, dave and pauline were ardent documenters. They kept every bill, every letter, and took diligent notes of every conversation and interaction with the health sharing ministry company and the debt collection agency. As pauline recalls, "there were times that i just sat there and bawled my eyes out because i was frustrated and confused. Why do i have to keep sending this when they have everything in file? There were so many different people working on this and they did not transfer stuff to the next person. It was craziness. It was like starting day one over and over again." after two years of riding the rollercoaster alone, pauline got connected to cancer legal care's icare program through her daughter-in-law. Pauline sent over copies of her documentation to her icare attorney, and together they sent letter after letter to the cost sharing ministry and the collection agency. Finally, 5 years later, pauline's bills were adjusted down to $0. In pauline's words, "i am just so glad that i found cancer legal care. Cancer legal care is amazing. I will refer to anybody who gets into a jam with their medical bills. I am truly blessed for my cancer legal care attorney. She did a big part of this for me and my family. I'm so glad that rollercoaster ride is over."