Lost Medicaid After Leaving Abusive Husband: Need Advice on Stoma Care

Hello everyone,

I recently lost my Medicaid due to leaving my abusive husband. I no longer qualify as being one person and they say my income is too much to qualify for one person.  I had to go on the healthcare marketplace and the problem is that my doctors do not accept the new insurance from the marketplace. 
I will no longer be able to see a stoma nurse. No other hospital system in my area has them like the hospital I go to does. 
For those of you who do not have the luxury of seeing a stoma nurse, who do you see for your stoma and who writes your prescriptions for your supplies? 
I don't even know what kind of doctor to see for this now. I'm kind of devastated that I'm being thrown off for leaving an abusive husband 

I am so sorry you are going through this. As far as your prescriptions go, try talking to your general practitioner. They can write a prescription. You may have to call your product supplier and find out what they need or even have them on the phone while seeing the doctor. Or your new insurance should have a hospital system they work with who would have a WOC Nurse on staff for that sort of stuff. Good luck. I will be praying for you!

This is confusing to me as I do not have a stoma nurse or even a stoma doctor. Do most people have dedicated stoma nurses and regular doctor visits?

I had my surgery 3 years ago and have only returned to that surgeon on 2 occasions. My original surgery was in another state (emergency while on vacation) returning to my home state I found another surgeon to do follow-up. This surgeon approves my supply requirements without any input from me. I use 180 Medical and they contact my surgeon's office for approval of requests for my supplies. I have not seen him in 2 years. The last visit was to discuss my parastomal hernia and ileostomy reversal. Since I have opted not to have a reversal and thankfully I have no issues, I no longer require appointments.

Hi there,

I am very sorry to hear about this and the tough time you're going through. I know being in that situation is beyond hard. Good for you for leaving, you should be proud of yourself. You didn't deserve that. With Marketplace, I don't know if you already have, but when you go over a plan, you can also ask them if your doctor is covered in that plan and can choose a plan based on that. That's how I did it with mine on Marketplace. I called and talked to someone. As far as ostomy prescriptions go, you can put your doctor down. When you place your order with a distributor, you place for what you want, no one needs to write you a script or tell you what you need. With the insurance company, they just need an updated doctor on file that you see, so they can confirm you have an ostomy. The distributor will fax over the list you ordered and your doctor's office or doctor will sign whatever you order. I am sorry if you already knew this and I went on and on.

Hibiscus, I'm sorry that things turned out that way. You absolutely did the right thing by leaving but our healthcare system doesn't always work in our favor. I do not have a "stoma nurse" - I've just contacted someone once since my 2015 surgery when I had issues. Also, your ostomy bag supplier has people who you can talk to with stoma issues. My surgeon had been filling the prescription for my ostomy products, now my gastroenterologist does that. You may want to look into seeing a gastroenterologist who deals with all things intestinal. Know in your heart that you took care of yourself physically and emotionally and you will get through this. We're all supporting you.

Hey, check your messages. I'll be closer to your area today if you need something.

Is Edgepark your supplier?

Hi all living here in N. Mich. I don't have a stoma nurse, hell I don't have a regular doctor just a nurse practitioner and he faxes a script to my supplier.

G'day Justbreathe, can I ask why you don't have a stoma nurse?

Hi, your physician or nurse practitioner will do this for you. I do not have a stoma nurse either.

I have no need for one - all of my questions have been successfully answered on this forum. This site, consisting of knowledgeable folks (worldwide) who have experienced years of on-the-job training, has turned out to be a veritable plethora of ostomy information and answers I needed. For me, this, along with my own good common sense, has answered my questions and concerns - even more so than any stoma nurse, physician, or surgeon I may have contacted. JB

It is interesting. I thought I needed a stoma nurse. So I arranged to visit one. It was a male nurse. He quickly took off my wafer/bag, took a peek at stoma Herb, slapped on a new wafer/bag... and said "see ya." I was there for 10 minutes. I tried to make a follow-up appointment, was told not necessary.

So... unless you have bad peristomal skin trouble, or persistent leaks; no need to see a stoma nurse.

Next time I'm going to call the support staff at Edgepark.

I don't mean to diminish an ostomy nurse's job but I've never gotten help from one when I had issues. I've taken the suggestions of people on here along with my own detective work and figured out a solution.

I am right there with you on ostomy nurses. No help for me either and I have seen 5. I took figure it out myself. They don't know much of what they are doing or how to do it or what to do.

Hi,

Thank you all for the input. I started with Cleveland Clinic and they gave me a visit to a stoma nurse whenever you have issues or to get your prescriptions, so I knew no other way to get the stuff. I'm glad some of you filled me in that any doctor can write one for me.
I will have a $750 deductible with the plan I got, so that means I have to meet that before they will cover everything except 30%. I change every day and would not have it any other way, so it will be expensive, but my deductible will get met quickly, but it's just another expense I never expected.
If anyone asks why change every day? Everyone is different. I'm very active and have tried every bag out there. I move around a lot, I sweat easily and have oilier skin and get rashes if left in longer than 24 hours, but sometimes if not working I can go a day and a half.
So for those of you that can go longer, I truly envy you, but it does not work out for me.

I am sorry but that's like saying I don't need a brain surgeon because I have a friend on the computer.

Ouch 🤔

Jb

I have a friend on the computer and do not need a brain surgeon. Are brain transplants still offered?

Just asking for a friend

So, I gotta support the ladies here... I needed my WOC (stoma) nurses with all the issues I had and they (all except one) were so helpful to me. But I think the point to take home from the ladies who mentioned the reasons they didn't need the help of a stoma nurse and were able to figure out their various ostomy situations... were to empower the author of the original post in her current situation. So I hope Miss H. feels empowered and supported by their words and knows she can do this.

👏!