Go Into Debt for Experimental Medical Treatments?

[Music] brought to you by chm a biblically based alternative to health insurance learn more at chministries.org budget my wife and I were on baby step to um and it it kind of took us a little bit to get there mostly because we've been um we've been pretty sick both of us um for the past few years and we're seeking some medical treatment to hopefully nit this in the bud um hopefully in a few short months but the medical treatment that looking at that was recommended by our doctor is experimental and it's not covered by insurance and the treatment going to be between 10 to $30,000 so we're kind of in a position where we oh Andrew are you there Andrew oh no oh man Andrew we'll give you one more second oh yep that's a bad line I think um we're going oh there you are you're back good yes sorry oh you're good you're good my phone's weird um so um yes I don't know if my wife and I should actually um take out a loan or not we really don't want to um especially since we're can I ask Andrew and share as much as as you feel comfortable but what's what's going on healthwise um we we were um so we we got pretty sick from the the the home that we were living in oh um and so like mold it's been yeah so it's just been a lot of stuff that's been going on where um a lot of the treatments have been not either FDA approved or um treatments that have been getting us better we we're we are better but it's it's just been a really long process so the last time we talked with our doctor he said that um we should try and do um like a hyperbaric treatment which um seems great you know he's had great really great success with it but um the only problem is that the the payment has to be up front um and so that's the insurance this is obviously something more like in a natural bent I'm assuming so Insurance isn't going to cover it no insurance W cover it tell me um just healthwise are you guys able to are you able to work are you able to function like how are you guys you said you're doing better I'm just trying to get a gauge about how urgent this this is for you guys yeah so so we are better um and we are both working right now um we make about I want to say close to 70 or $80,000 um right now a year okay um the you know only problem with this is that the the longer we put it off the worse it'll get sure um and so just what's your margin every month like what are you right now putting towards dead and baby step 2 that you could put potentially towards saving up for this or doing one at a time yeah we're able to put um close to $600 or so a month into debt um and how much debt do you guys have we right now we have about um I want to say about $220,000 in student loan debt and then about 50,000 in a um in a business loan okay um man this is so hard because I do feel like they're just from my own not my own experience but people within my close Circles of friends and family even that I know you know when you get something it's like autoimmune or mold ever that it it it can end up feeling Andrew like there's always something else we have like there's a long line of things that are continual and so what I you know always just think about in kind of caution is I would number one maybe get a second opinion I'm sure you know your doctor well and trust them but you know I mean we're talking about10 to $30,000 right I mean if it was $2,000 um that's one thing but I mean you're you're talking you know um five figures going in um with treatments and so is that a piece or all in that would be for us combined um that would I me and is this Ono or is it kind of a one time Lord willing it'd be it'd be just a one time like you know one one to two months worth of treatment so it be okay you know 20 20 sessions is like is about $110,000 on the high end so we hope to be done in about a month okay so you know what what I would probably do because again I feel like this can sometimes to feel like a never ending yeah cycle um I would I would um and because it's not a and I know you're you guys are saying I don't want to downplay at all the sickness because I'm sure it's just miserable but it's not a life or death like okay I have to save my child right now because you know there's a you know like it's not this it's not an urgency but it is something for the betterment of your health you want so what you know what I would probably strive to do is whatever I could to get because 10 to 30 is a big range so I would get as close to that 10 and I would talk negotiate doctors I mean I would do whatever I could to get it down to that 10 and you guys are s you know I would work to save a thousand a month I would be okay right now because it is a health issue maybe to pause the debt snowball stay current on your bills but I would bump that 600 a month up to a th000 and save for 10 months and then starting October November Andrew start this treatment and then hopefully by this time next year you're through it you're done and then press play on the baby steps and maybe one of you goes at a time to see if it's helpful oh that's a good you know I know you're two different bodies with two different sets of you know but that might be a good way to say listen I did it it did nothing for me or I did it and it really really helped that might give you some confidence going into the next treat it's just a thought like I don't know what you're facing I don't know if it's headaches or every time you eat you you know whatever it is if it's something that's truly debilitating but if it's just and again I'm not I don't want to downplay it either but if it's something that's more of an annoyance that you're learning to live through that gives you you know there's a little bit more timeline there to get that done for sure and the sense too to that um you know you don't want to prolong it too long cuz like what you're saying you know they can come back and get worse unless you have this treatment so getting to it right a level of urgency but it's also not like we have to do this next month the only option is alone and we're done like if you can and it's not debilitating because you guys are working and all of that um I would yeah I would find something because I and I would cash flow and and the other thing Andrew that's interesting is when you are working with cash even when we're talking about you know Health situations it does force you this is VI like cash forces you to look at other options other decisions like sell something there there's just um other parts of your brain of problem solving versus with debt it's like here's a chunk of money this is all we're going to do we don't really have to put the brain power to Think Through other things it's just here but when you're paying with cash and you're working and saving hard like I don't know it just it it forces other things to come to the surface of other options and choices that's also true um but yeah so again I'm so sorry that is that's stuff that is like and that's and that has been I don't know I don't know if you've I've just had people and it's like you you go to the next thing and then it flares up again I don't know it just feels like it's like wole a little bit sometimes with different things so I do want you guys to get that treatment but um but because it's not it's not life or death right in this moment I would I would calm down I you know I would I would pause a little bit and save up for it that's difficult I remember um when Sam and I were getting out of debt this was before the days of Obamacare and you had to have insurance or else we didn't have insurance and one day he was pulling our luggage out of the back of the Jeep and it got caught on his finger and he broke his finger oh no and we didn't have insurance and I was like listen head over to Walgreens tape it up it it's crooked to this day uh and you know he plays instruments it wasn't good take care of yourself care is that insurance this is the ramsy show chm isn't health insurance it's a health cost sharing Ministry check it out for yourself at chministries.org budget