Woman given $1 million hospital bill... for giving birth... insurance denied claim

[davidn3600]

Childbirth is costly, but this is ridiculous: A mom from Saskatchewan, Canada, owes almost $1 million in hospital bills after she gave birth in the United States.

In October 2013, when Jennifer Huculak was almost six months pregnant and on vacation in Hawaii with husband Darren Kimmel, her water broke, according to a story published Tuesday in the Toronto Sun. After being airlifted from Maui to a nearby hospital in Honolulu, Huculak spent six weeks on hospital bed rest before giving birth to a premature baby girl, Reece, via an emergency C-section. Reece was kept in the neonatal intensive care unit for two months before the family was able return to their home in Canada in February.

After a week at the hospital, Huculak’s insurance company informed Huculak that her coverage had been denied. (The company is referred to as “Blue Cross” in Canadian media coverage, but is believed to be Saskatchewan Blue Cross, according to Blue Cross Blue Shield. The latter tells Yahoo Parenting that it’s not involved in this case.) The reason for the coverage denial: Huculak had a pre-existing condition that deemed her a high-risk pregnancy. However, according to the Sun, Huculak’s doctor wrote a letter to the insurance company stating that the pregnancy was healthy. The claim was still denied.

Yahoo Parenting could not reach Huculak for comment. However, on Wednesday, she said in an interview with CTC’s Canada AM, “I was never told by any doctor that I was a high-risk pregnancy. I had a bladder infection at four months that caused some hemorrhaging, but I was treated and everything was cleared up.” After learning that their bills would not be covered, the couple tried to return to Canada, but doctors informed them that it wasn’t safe, so they stayed put, shelling out about $30,000 on car and apartment rentals.

But the final medical bill for the birth? $950,000, all of which the family has been held responsible.

https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/mother-owes-nearly-1-million-for-daughters-birth-103061950107.html


Maybe next time Democrats want to do something about the healthcare system...we can do something about THE FUCKING COST!!!!! And what the fuck good is insurance for all when they find ways to deny most claims anyway?

[Warren Stupidity]

1. The costs in other countries are a fraction of the costs here.

Most other developed countries do not have for-profit healthcare systems, and have instead socialized the costs as part of a universal healthcare system where private for-profit components, if they exist at all, are highly regulated and are not profit centers for huge corporations. The costs here can only be brought down by a complete reform of the system, to bring it into line with the best practices developed by other countries. Unfortunately the modest reforms of the ACA will not do that.

[MiniMe]

2. Anything that Congress could try to do here would not have an effect on this case

The woman was Canadian, traveling to Hawaii. The problem was with the insurance they bought in order to travel claimed there was a pre-existing condition. As bad as I feel for this couple, I don't blame the american health care system for it, I blame the insurance they bought, which was blue cross I think.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

3. Exactly n/t

[REP]

4. Yup. This was not merely a simple birth

Airlifted to a hospital
Six weeks of hospitalized bed rest
Emergency c-section
Two months of NICU for the premature infant

It seems as though they did everything right: got a doctor's okay to travel and purchased insurance and then proceeded to have the worst vacation ever. The insurance company is doing what they do best: trying to screw the policy holder.