A Little Outside Help

And so, over the past few decades, both private askanim and medical referral agencies have become available to deal with medical-related issues of nearly every kind, often working around the clock to make sure people get the help they need. Over time, it became clear that the very first order of business in every health-related journey was finding the right direction and the best treatment protocol in often unchartered waters. And now, living in the shadow of coronavirus, this help is more important than ever

AT A PREMIUM

By Sandy Eller

Over two decades ago, when Williamsburg resident Reb Herschel Kohn saw how people in the Jewish community were being bankrupted by medical bills that could have been covered if only they had had the right insurance, Reb Herschel created Rofeh Cholim Cancer Society (RCCS) to help people pay their insurance premiums and make quality medical care affordable for every Yid. But it didn’t end there. It soon became clear that people didn’t just need help paying for treatment, they also needed qualified individuals to help steer them towards a treatment plan that was best suited to their particular needs.

“We became one-stop shopping for cancer patients,” explains Rabbi Chaim Rapfogel, chief operating officer at RCCS. “The same way you think of Hatzolah for medical emergencies and Chaverim when your car breaks down, RCCS is ready to step in and work out all of the medical and financial problems when someone has cancer.

“Doctors go to medical school because they want to help people, but then they get out in the real world and realize they can’t help everyone because of the realities of insurance,” he observes. “When they see that we can manage the insurance part of the equation, they’re excited to work with us — even if we get them while they’re on vacation on a beach in Hawaii.”