Please be advised that Good Days will be closed on Friday, March 29th, 2024 in observance of Good Friday. We will resume normal hours of operation Monday, April 1st at 8:00 AM Central Standard Time. 

 

Giving Good Days Spring Newsletter- 2018

 

Click here to download the Spring Newsletter

Meet Mr. Gers

Learn How this Veteran Found the Help He Needed to See More Good Days

At 91 years old, Irvin Gers knows a thing or two about service. A United States Navy veteran, Irvin is also a member for more than 60 years of both the Freemasons and Shriners International, organizations synonymous with goodwill and public service. 

In 1944, just after graduating from high school, Irvin joined the armed services, travelled across the country, and eventually found himself in the warzone of Okinawa, Japan, where he was stationed just hundreds of miles from where President Harry Truman deployed the world’s first atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

Following the War, Irvin returned to his hometown just outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and worked in the local coal mines before beginning a 35-year career in the insurance industry. These days, he is just a short drive away from his three grandchildren and five great grandchildren whom he sees regularly. 

“It can be hard to get out of the house because they are all wrapped around me,” says Irvin. “Between visiting them, birthdays, holidays and to babysit, it can get pretty busy.”

Irvin supplemented his health insurance coverage under his Veterans Affairs plan with a private plan under Aetna. But when faced with macular degeneration, that proved insufficient too. 

“I am not criticizing the VA and Aetna was great a company and it was a great plan,” says Irvin, “but it doesn’t matter what coverage you are with, they won’t cover everything. My injection starts at $2,500 and that includes about $420 of out-of-pocket costs each time. I am not pleading poverty, but it would hurt.”

When he told his family the news, Irvin was surprised to hear his sister-in-law and her husband had received assistance from Good Days – an organization he’d not yet heard of. Despite Irvin’s lifetime of experience in public service, he was still surprised by the warmth of the Good Days team, who coordinated directly with his physician’s office to ensure he would be able to access his treatments. 

“I don’t think I deserve this much attention and help, but I’m getting it,” says Irvin. “The only thing I can say is it’s been a wonderful experience. Good Days has been so much help that I cannot explain in words.”

“I never thought I’d live long enough to have a daughter on social security and retired,” says Irvin. “Honest to goodness, there is not a morning I don’t get out of bed that I wish I could do something for someone else because I have been so lucky.” 

 

CALL TO ACTION 

SIGN OUR PETITION

Join Good Days and tell the federal government that patient assistance charities matter. 

At the bottom of the enclosed open letter, you will find a pre-stamped reply card that we encourage you to sign, tear off and send back to us. We will compile all signatures together and send the letters to key government officials in the coming weeks to ensure our collective voice is heard. 

You can also sign our open letter online at http://bit.ly/ProtectGoodDays

Thank you for your support. 

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT

MARKETPLACE ACCESS PROJECT

A new federal rule threatens to interfere with patient assistance programs, but a coalition of patient groups, including Good Days, are joining forces to change that rule. 

Under the Affordable Care Act, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have mandated that insurance companies can refuse payments made on behalf of patients from any charitable organization not explicitly outlined by the ACA guidelines. Under these rules, CMS has effectively enabled insurance companies in 42 states to deny health coverage to many of the nation’s most vulnerable patients, risking countless lives.

The good news is that advocacy groups and some Members of Congress are taking action.many of the nation’s most vulnerable patients, risking countless lives.

“Over the last several years, our organization has fought on behalf of the patient assistance program model which has been under attack,” says Dana Kuhn, founder of the nonprofit patient assistance organization, Patient Services, Inc. Kuhn, who is a Presbyterian minister, founded PSI in 1989 following the loss of his wife to a chronic health condition and his own diagnosis of a rare disease. He had been working as a clinical counselor at a hospital in Virginia, where he offered emotional support for those whose family members had a terminal illness. Kuhn noticed how many patients were also struggling with medical bills during that distressing time.

“I listened to the stories of families who were losing everything to keep their loved one with them and I thought someone needs to help these families,” says Kuhn. “If someone could help them afford COBRA insurance or other forms of coverage then the family could remain intact through this ordeal.”

In response to the threat of the CMS rule, PSI organized the Marketplace Access Project, a coalition of over 20 nonprofit organizations that advocate for and enable patient access to charitable financial assistance for medical expenses. In tandem with efforts of MAP, 184 bipartisan members of Congress sent a letter last May to then-Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Tom Price urging an administrative fix for the CMS rule. Additionally, Representative Kevin Cramer of North Dakota—who took the lead on the HHS letter—re-introduced “The Access to Marketplace Insurance Act,” late last year. The legislation seeks to reverse the CMS rule and allow patients to use charitable assistance without risk of having it denied or being dropped by their health insurance. Currently, it has more than 100 bipartisan co-sponsors.

“We’ve made progress both in Congress and in the Administration to fix this...and it is clear Congress sees this as a real problem,” says Congressman Cramer. “As for the Senate – they operate at a slower pace but we’re working with them as well on a companion bill.”

Cramer says citizens interested in this issue should urge their representatives to co-sponsor the current bill. Individual should also contact their state representatives and suggest they introduce legislation to protect patients’ rights to access charitable assistance at the state level. Cramer notes that patients and their caregivers can play the most important role of all in defeating the CMS rule by simply sharing their stories with those in power.

“I would schedule a face to face meeting with their Members of Congress in the district offices, explain their disorders, and articulate what they and their families go through and what would happen if they did not have access to charitable organizations,” says Cramer.

“Patients need to put a face to patient assistance programs,” says Kuhn. “They have to meet with their state and federal legislators...so policymakers will understand the impact that these destructive policies can have on a patient and their family.”

 

FROM OUR PRESIDENT

CLORINDA WALLEY

Good Days exists to make life-saving and life-extending treatments affordable. We’re grateful for the hundreds of letters we receive each month from people telling us how Good Days made a difference in their disease, their treatment outcomes, and their lives.  

Patient assistance programs like ours are the only available financial resource to hundreds of thousands of Medicare patients who are facing debilitating, life altering and often times life threatening diseases and cannot afford their treatment.   We strive to fill that role as transparently as we can, until the day a better solution is in place. 

We look forward to continuing to serve patients and to expanding our ability to help others gain access to care. However, patient assistance charities like ours have been subjected to intense government scrutiny to the point where it may limit our ability to help patients in the future. 

The federal government has not fixed the holes in government-sponsored health insurance plans that patient assistance charities like Good Days were established to address. But it is now endangering our programs, and, most importantly, the chronically ill patients who are unable to afford their life-sustaining medical treatment. Growing public criticism on the rising costs of drugs is being directly associated with charitable organizations. This has had a significant effect on the ability of these charities to raise funds, thereby threatening the assistance that Good Days provides. 

An entirely separate federal issue makes matters even riskier for patients. A new federal regulatory guidance is prohibiting charitable organizations from helping Americans pay their health insurance premiums. In fact, insurance companies in 42 states have already cited this rule to deny coverage to patients who receive charitable assistance. 

Your voice will help us address these issues. We’re collecting signatures for an open letter to remind key officials in the federal government of the vital need for patient assistance. Enclosed in this latest newsletter you will find a copy of an open letter that we invite our supporters, friends and community members to join us in signing. At the bottom of the open letter you will find a pre-stamped reply card that we encourage you to sign, tear off and send back to us. 

If patient assistance has made a difference in your life, then please make your voice heard by signing our open letter. We will combine everyone’s signatures together and share it with the federal government to ensure our collective voice is heard. 

As always, thank you for your continued support. We are honored for the opportunity to serve you.

Sincerely,

Clorinda Walley, President

Good Days

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