Bijou Phillips Details ‘Huge’ Medical Bills During Kidney Disease (External)
Hi Phillips He opens up about the financial pain he is feeling as he is looking for someone who can give him a kidney.
“On my first application, SAG refused. We had to fight for months to get approval,” Phillips, 45, shared only Us Weekly. “When I used dialysis, I qualified for Medicare. At first they said they would cover it, but then they didn’t pay.”
A representative for SAG-AFTRA Health Plan could not be reached for comment Usciting HIPAA regulations.
About his health problems, Phillips said he “was left with a lot of debt while trying to survive.”
“This time, because of that knowledge, I have many insurances and Medicare,” he explained. “It’s crazy that you have to make insurance plans while you’re fighting for your life. …I still need medications that won’t be approved. It’s incredibly expensive. I’m paying out of pocket because I have no choice.”
Phillips was born with underdeveloped kidneys and spent the first three months of his life on dialysis. He recovered but ended up with kidney failure. Phillips later needed a transplant at age 36 (his friend Chris Wadhams he was a donor), but on February 11, he revealed on social media that he was hospitalized and undergoing dialysis again.
Hi Phillips
John Chapple/MEGAPhillips continues to share her story in hopes that she can get a kidney and live a healthy life.
“Please help me find a donor so I can spend more time with my daughter, family and friends,” he wrote Instagram earlier this month. “Time is of the essence.” (Phillips’ blood type is B negative, so O+, O negative and B negative are encouraged to donate.)
In recent weeks, GoFundMe pages are created to support Eric Danehis family after his death from ALS. Friends of America’s Next Top Model the judge Miss J Alexander and launched a page to pay for medical expenses after a recent stroke.
Regardless of the Hollywood scene, Phillips believes that health care is not fair to most Americans.
“If you’re working consistently as an actor, you’re making good money — even if you’re used to changing the structure of the net before broadcasting,” Phillips said. But illness doesn’t care about job cycles. And insurance doesn’t matter either.
He continued, “When people who have had successful careers launch GoFundMes to keep themselves alive, what does that mean for everyone? This system is incredibly complex, blind and full of ways that make it difficult even for people who have resources. For families who don’t, I can’t even imagine the pressure.”
While Phillips’ future may be in big questions, the actress is still focused on being the best mom she can be to her 12-year-old daughter, Fianna, who she shares with her ex-husband. Danny Masterson.
Bijou Phillips has maintained a close relationship with her daughter, Fianna, following her split from ex-husband Danny Masterson. Phillips tied the knot with Masterson in 2011 after seven years together. The pair welcomed their only child, Fianna Francis, in February 2014. After Masterson was found guilty of two counts of statutory rape for the incidents […]
She also thanked the support of her close friends, including her boyfriend, a businessman Jamie Mazurand friends for life Nicky Hilton, Paris Hilton again Kimberly Stewart.
In addition to family and friends, Phillips has also found strength in her Catholic faith and prays the Rosary in the morning with a group of friends after dropping her daughter off at Catholic school.
“I just give to God, I have been tested all my life, many things have brought me sorrow, shame, fear and worry, I had to grow up a lot, I had to really look at myself. [and be] I’m thankful for what I’ve had,” said Phillips.” “We are very lucky to be here on this planet, in these bodies, to live this life. There is a lot of love, there is a lot of beauty. It is unbelievable.”
