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When planning for a bone marrow or cord blood transplant (also called a BMT), patients and family members often find it helpful to summarize their current income and expenses and to budget for the additional expenses of BMT. Additional expenses include the items and services needed for a transplant, but are not part of the medical procedure. Some expenses are substantial, such as relocation and travel costs, child-care, prescriptions, and co-payments.
This free, confidential and flexible planning tool can help you:
You can print a personalized report, similar to Figure 1. This report may be a helpful starting point for you to discuss your household financial needs with your transplant center staff, insurance provider or financial advisor.
It will be helpful to take the time to collect the information listed in Transplant Information and Household Income and Expenses (PDF) before you begin using the tool.
After you have collected the amounts for your income and household expenses, it will take about 15 minutes to complete this planning tool.
Your report is displayed after entering information. You can print the report or use your Internet browser to save the report to your computer. Until you exit the tool, you can change the information as often as you like.
E-mail: patientinfo@nmdp.org Call toll free in the United States: 1 (888) 999-6743 Outside of the United States call: 1 (612) 627-8140 Interpreters are available.
Many transplant patients are in the hospital for several weeks or months. The length of the hospital stay depends on the patient's treatment plan, the transplant center's procedures and the patient's recovery time after transplant.
Health care insurance often covers many transplant expenses. However, most patients have additional expenses that are not covered by their insurance. The transplant information will help transplant center staff and patients estimate specific additional costs.
Household size refers to the number of people living within the patient's home.
The patient's age and household size can help identify financial needs, such as health insurance, child-care, tuition and retirement. Age and household size may also be used to determine eligibility for specific programs and resources.
Often the primary income source is the patient or the patient's spouse. When the income is from another adult living in the household, such as a domestic partner or adult child, sometimes this income is included.
Enter a monthly amount for each item that applies. If this person will not continue to receive regular pay during the transplant, this tool automatically notes the monthly take-home pay as a change in household income on the report.
Please do not use commas or dollar signs. The system will automatically round amounts to the nearest dollar.
Enter a monthly amount for each item that applies. If this person will not continue to receive regular pay during the transplant, this tool automatically notes the monthly take-home pay as a change in the household income on the report.
Estimate monthly amounts to the nearest dollar for all members of the patient's household.
Enter a monthly amount for each item that applies to the patient's household.
When the patient or caregiver move to a location near the transplant center for several months, additional costs such as lodging, food and local transportation need to be considered. Indicate the items that apply to the patient, caregiver or both.
When the transplant center is near the patient's or caregiver's home, you still need to look at these items. Your current expenses may change or you may have new expenses. Indicate the items that apply to the patient, caregiver or both.
To prepare for the patient's return home, the transplant center staff will give suggestions such as:
Sometimes new clothing is needed because of a significant change in weight. Sometimes extra soft clothing may be needed if the patient's skin becomes sensitive.
To plan for these additional costs, indicate the items that may apply to this patient's needs.
Viewing a summary of income and expenses can be overwhelming. We want you to know that people and resources are available to help you prepare for potential additional costs and to help you manage your current household expenses. This financial summary is a useful first step in developing a financial plan for transplant. We encourage you to review the following information with people familiar with transplant and/or your financial situation, including:
Click on the Next button below to find more items to help you prepare your finances related to transplant and to view an itemized version of your report.
Your feedback is very important to us. Please consider taking this survey (www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB228LG3W8FC9) to let us know if the financial tool, Calculating Additional Transplant Expenses, was helpful to you.
National Marrow Donor Program's Office of Patient Advocacy
In the following sections of this report, you will find more items we have prepared to help you understand, discuss and plan your finances related to transplant.
* Costs based on national averages.
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