LARGO – A Largo woman is thankful after we took action and helped her son, who has testicular cancer, get an appointment he desperately needed.
Francesca Jacobs is like many mothers who would do anything for her child.
So when her 25 year old son Christopher was diagnosed with stage three testicular cancer, she jumped in to help him with calls on medical care and insurance.
Because her son was unemployed, Francesca says he qualified for insurance through Pinellas County Social Services.
Christopher went through nine weeks of chemotherapy under the care of a Pinellas county oncologist, but further tests revealed more tumors that would take surgery to remove.
His doctor referred him to Moffitt Cancer Center.
Because Moffitt is located in Hillsborough and not Pinellas county, Christopher needed what is called a network transfer to be seen there.
His mother said she had a hard time getting that transfer to go through.
Francesca says, “Nobody would call me back and I went to specific offices. It’s the most horrible feeling because you feel like you have failed your son and you will exhaust every single option you have to save your son’s life.”
That’s when Francesa called ABC Action news.
We, in turn, called Pinellas county who referred us to WellCare.
That’s a company that administers the insurance program for the county.
Just a few days after we took action Francesca says she got phone calls telling her she had authorization for her to take her son to the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.
WellCare released this statement:
“In situations like these, we often find that the member simply doesn’t know or doesn’t understand the process for an out-of-network referral. Once we clarify that with the member, matters are often resolved right away, and that was what happened here. We’re glad that we were able to move quickly to help the member get the care he needed.”
–Carol Cassara, WellCare spokesperson
Anyone who has ever struggled with an insurance company can feel Francesca’s frustration, but we want you to know WellCare responded to our calls immediately, even though they couldn’t talk details about Christopher’s case, the issue was resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.
