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@yayaaz

My Aunt is 89 years old. She has had bronchiectasis for quite a few years. It was not as serious until recently. She was diagnosed with MAI/MAC a couple of days ago and will see her doctor tomorrow for treatment. Her doctor told her Medicare/Medicaid won’t cover the treatment. The doctor will send a letter asking for a hearing to allow her to have the medicines needed. Do you have any other ideas that might be helpful? She will not have the money to pay out of pocket for the lengthy treatment.
Also, I’m concerned how she will withstand the treatment.
Thank you for listening and for your help.

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Replies to "My Aunt is 89 years old. She has had bronchiectasis for quite a few years. It..."

Medicare covers all my MAC meds! Maybe your aunt or you as her advocate could call and check on that. Good luck!

Oh good to know that Medicare covers the meds.
Thank you, Renee

Pivotal study expected to commence in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2019

NEW YORK, June 13, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AIT Therapeutics, Inc. (OTC:AITB), a clinical-stage medical device and biopharmaceutical company focused on developing inhaled Nitric Oxide (NO) for the treatment of patients with respiratory conditions including serious lung infections and pulmonary hypertension, today announced positive top line results from its Nitric Oxide in Bronchiolitis (NO-BRO) Pilot study. Given these positive results, a pivotal study is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2019.

“Nitric oxide has once again been shown to improve the condition of patients with lung infections when delivered at a high concentration,” said Steven Lisi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AIT Therapeutics. “Our pivotal study in bronchiolitis patients, anticipated to start in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2019 and to complete in the second quarter of calendar year 2020 in the United States, will be performed using our proprietary nitric oxide generator and delivery system. Reducing length of hospital stay in bronchiolitis patients benefits not only the patient and the parents, it reduces cost to the hospital as well.”

Great that the nitric oxide is doing so well but so far away, wish it was this year.

@yayaaz wow! Bronchiectasis is dangerous to catch bacteria.  I have bronchiectasis and a MAC but never taken any antibiotic for it because my Dr says it hasn’t proven successful. I got rid of my MAC with natural product such as PROBIOTICS, to get more good

bacteria to fight bad ones, Clear lung to help decongest my lungs.  You want to try to thicken her liquid since it is very commun on elderly to swallow liquid in the lung tube.  Check on the internet for deglutition video on you tube. It might give you more

clues.  Dr do not explore that too often so you and her would know. The radiologist told me bronchiectasis can be cause by deglutition problem. Check it out! Nick

Thank you Nick.
I will check it out. Today the doctor said he was not going to put my aunt on the medications he wanted to. He said he was going to research some other things for her. My aunt has multiple myeloma as well, and doesn’t want treatment for that as she is 89 years old. However, I will definitely check out the probiotic angle.

@unicorn Hi Krista. That is great news. I am a bit ticked off that NIH has known for years that N.O. therapy has worked for us and never pushed forward with it and brought it to mainstream. BTW, how are you doing?

@yayaaz, Hi Renee. Just want to welcome you to Connect. I am happy that you found us because mac/mai is a challenging disease to deal with. I commend you for advocating on your aunt's behalf. I feel badly for her that she is battling this at her age. I am no medical expert, but I feel like her doctor is right. Due to her age and myeloma; the 'Big 3' might be too much for her system. I refused them at age 48 (12 yrs ago) for fear of their toxicity. I have been treated with cipro, doxycycline, and tobramycin on alternating months. These have been well tolerated by me and seem to work. Not knowing the severity of your aunt's mai, I don't know if these meds would work for her, but it is worth mentioning them to her doctor. It is a Mayo dr that put me on those. You may want to mention that too to her dr. as Mayo physicians are held in high esteem by most medical professionals. I hope you will keep us posted on what treatment plan they come up with for her; and how she is doing. Do you have any more questions that you'd like to ask? -Terri Martin

@yayaaz, I am on Medicare and it has covered every single drug that I have been put on. (One them cost $2,500.00 a month) at the time. That was the tobramycin; cost has come down by half due to new contracts. I know that drugs tend to get approved without a problem when you are treated through places like Mayo, NJH, Cleveland Clinic, etc. They have swagger I guess. If she doesn't have secondary insurance, and she qualifies financially, the Healthwell Foundation can help with her co-pays on some (not all) meds. They are a Cystic Fibrosis charity, and since bronchiectasis is an 'orphan' disease and effects us similarly as CF, they help us out.

Good morning Terri,
Thank you for all your information.
I didn’t realize I’d opened up Pandora’s Box! One link lead to another, and then another, etc..
I do have questions, but right now I’m trying to understand all the terminology being used.
The doctor said for right now he will prescribe DOXYCYCLINE and FAMOTIDINE (?). Just the Doxy alone may cause colitis, which she really can’t afford as she only weighs 90 pounds. I will continue to devour all the great information I’m getting here.
Thank you for your concern, renee