An $80,000 surprise bill points to a loophole in a new law to protect patients

[Jilly_in_VA]

When Greg and Sugar Bull were ready to start a family, health challenges necessitated that they work with a gestational surrogate. The woman who carried and gave birth to their twins lived two states away.

The pregnancy went well until the surrogate experienced high blood pressure and other symptoms of preeclampsia, which could have harmed her and the babies. Doctors ordered an emergency delivery at 34 weeks of gestation. Both infants had to spend more than a week in the neonatal intensive care unit.

It was April 2020, early in the coronavirus pandemic. Unable to take a plane, the Bulls drove from their home in Huntington Beach, Calif., to the hospital in Provo, Utah. They had to quarantine in Utah before they could see the children in the hospital.

A couple of weeks later, after the babies could eat and breathe on their own, the Bulls took them home to California.

Then the bills came.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/02/23/1082405759/an-80-000-surprise-bill-points-to-a-loophole-in-a-new-law-to-protect-patients
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Exhibit # 1,999,999 in why I hate insurance companies. Single payer NOW!

[Bettie]

1. When I had my last son

I ended up with post partum eclampsia.

This was after an ER visit because I was having visual disturbances, a headache, and couldn't breathe. The ER sent me home, after telling my DH I had congestive heart failure and there was nothing they could do. They never called the OB office or a consult even though I had a five day old baby with me. When we requested that, they said no, it wasn't necessary.

Two days later, I had a seizure in my living room. I got better, though OB said I came close to death. Then we got the bills.

The reason? I had not notified the insurance company in advance of a hospital admission.

Eventually, my DH got them to pay for it, but it was a long, annoying process.

Oh, it turned out that in addition to the eclampsia, I had a respiratory infection, which was why I was having trouble breathing.

[Jilly_in_VA]

2. Somebody really dropped the ball there

I'm (primarily) a cardiology nurse, but even I know the symptoms of pre-eclampsia! Goddess in a boat, where did any of these idiots go to school, nursing OR medical?

[Bettie]

4. In the end, I think they were blinded

by the fact that I am fat and didn't look beyond that.

But, now that ER has a rule about calling OB for any post-partum patient.

[MissMillie]

3. Universal Health Care for ALL (n/t)

.