Help Lindsay & Colin Manage MS Treatment

UPDATE: Colin and Lindsay would like to thank everyone for their donations and support – as of right now, they’re close to meeting 25% of their goal!

With that being said, unfortunately, after multiple conversations over the past few weeks, Colin and Lindsay were informed by the provider that they’ve now sent all of their bills to collections without notifying them. This contradicts everything that Colin and Lindsay have been told throughout this whole ordeal – Lindsay has audio recordings of multiple staff members explaining and confirming that during this “dispute phase,” bills will not go to collections until a resolution has been made. However, as of 5/19/2023, every bill currently under dispute has been sent to collections and the provider refuses to reverse them.

NEXT STEPS: Colin and Lindsay have been in touch with a lawyer to help guide them through action items and how best to rectify this situation. Lindsay was also able to connect with a new staff member in a different department that seems eager to assist, so we’re hoping they can provide some sort of guidance. Things are moving along slowly – hopefully in the right direction – but there’s still a lot of confusion surrounding how this can all get fixed and why the provider is refusing to help in any way with a problem that they caused.

As of today, the funds that have been donated so far are NOT going towards the balance in question yet since they are still fighting with the hospital and insurance. Instead, these amazing donations have secured Colin’s medical care for 2023, and helped replenish their medical savings account from previous billing mistakes they were forced to pay from 2021. Unfortunately, it takes a village to financially secure medical care in this country, and Colin and Lindsay’s village has blown them away so far. Thank you!!!

UPDATE: Some people have asked for Colin and Lindsay’s Venmo instead of donating to this Go Fund Me directly. Here are there accounts if you’d prefer to donate there instead.

Colin: @Colin_Hanson

Lindsay: @LindsayHanson13

Hello everyone, this is the family of Lindsay and Colin and we’re starting this GoFundMe campaign to help them conquer their medical debt due to multiple doctor, hospital, hospital administration, and hospital staff errors over the last 2-3 years, that have all been thrown back on them.

Quick recap of Colin’s diagnosis: Colin was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis back in August 2018 after he started experiencing bouts of dizziness and eventually lost control and function of the right side of his body out of nowhere. After a month’s stay in the hospital, steroid infusion, spinal tap, plasmapheresis, and months of physical and occupational therapy, Colin started to feel back to normal—or his new normal at least. While in Grand Rapids, they were set up with a FANTASTIC neurologist and she managed his care wonderfully. Because there’s no known cure for MS, part of Colin’s on-going care—along with numerous doctor appointments, MRIs, and blood draws—has been a monthly infusion, which Colin receives every 30 days in order to prevent disease progression and future MS flair ups. After managing their new life in Michigan for over two years, it was clear that Colin needed a warmer climate due to his MS’ sensitivity to cold weather, so they packed up their entire lives and moved to Arizona in 2020. Once in Arizona, Colin began his care with a new neurologist and new infusion facility… and this is where things started to turn sour.

Over the course of his first two years of care in Arizona, the experience with this new medical system has brought Lindsay and Colin both medical and financial stress due to provider error and care mismanagement.

In October 2022, they discovered that Colin was receiving out-of-network and unauthorized care for six months without notification from the provider. While the details of this experience can get way too technical to dive into on here, and the medical system doesn’t help or make it easy to navigate, Lindsay and Colin uncovered many more problems through almost daily conversations with claims, the infusion site, hospital administration, billing, medical records, the drug manufacturer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, the pharmacy, financial services, hospital patient advocates, and many, many more.

Through their countless conversations, they were told multiple times by the provider’s staff that what the facility did goes against every policy they have, and that Colin should never have been treated once they discovered the insurance was out-of-network. They claimed he should’ve been given the choice of a new, in-network facility, or he could continue his care as “out-of-network.” Ironically, a few representatives even went as far as to make claims that what was being done to them was borderline criminal.

In addition to all of this, because Colin’s infusions are with a very expensive, very specialized drug ($20k per month, per dose), the facility needs pre-authorization paperwork from the overseeing neurologist whenever they notice a change, whether that’s with insurance, dosage, or moving infusion sites. However, that was not obtained on time, so that should’ve also prevented him from receiving care at an out-of-network facility, which would have prevented a mass pileup of unwarranted and unexpected medical bills.

Fast forward to today, and their conversations with the provider continue daily. At times they’ve been told they owe $12,000, then the next day they’re told they owe closer to $100,000. So, at this point, after six months of constant monitoring and communication from Lindsay and Colin, they’re still in the dark about what they actually owe and have been threatened with facing collections—a tactic all too common from this provider. Unfortunately, this is not the first time the provider has wrongly sent their medical bills to collections without notice—forcing an unfair snowball effect of financial strife for Lindsay and Colin since 2021.

Most importantly, because of the provider’s mismanagement of Colin’s care, he’s had multiple lapses in treatment since this all began, which puts him at jeopardy and is impacting his health, while Lindsay has spent an average of 7+ hours PER WEEK on the phone with the provider trying to come to a solution. All of this has caused them to suffer medically and financially as they’ve had to dip into their savings on multiple occasions to pay for unjust and unexpected medical costs because of mistakes made by the people in charge for keeping Colin healthy since 2020.

With all this being said, Colin has since switched providers; however, we’re reaching out to friends, family, and our community for support during this difficult time as they try to regain their financial footing so they can rightfully keep Colin’s health and quality of life their main focus. Any amount that you can contribute would be greatly appreciated and will help them get one step closer to being medical debt-free.

Your generosity will not only help them achieve financial stability, but it will also allow Lindsay and Colin to focus on his health without the added stress of unexpected medical bills. Colin recently made a pretty profound statement: while he thought that an MS diagnosis would be the thing that could impact their lives the most, he never thought the people providing his care would negatively impact them more. The financial stress of this has been harder than the actual disease itself—as if living with MS isn’t hard enough.

It should not go without saying that Colin has worked extremely hard to find a new sense of normalcy since his diagnosis in 2018. Living with an invisible disability gives people the idea that everything is okay, but the efforts that go in behind the scenes to create a full life with as little setbacks as possible, is constant. Since his diagnosis, their friends and loved ones have always asked how they could help, and up until this point, they have done everything within their control to manage not only his care and maintaining his health, but the financial burden that comes with it as well. So, this campaign is the help that they truly need right now. We thank you so much for considering a donation, and for your kindness and support during this time.

Although Lindsay and Colin financially plan each year to spend close to $7,500 out-of-pocket for Colin’s care, the funds raised through this campaign will be used to pay off unjust past medical debt and help them build back their depleted savings for the inevitable medical expenses Colin will continue to acquire every year while being treated.

We will provide regular updates to let everyone know how these contributions are making a difference in their lives—thank you.