Canadian woman hit with $950K medical bill after unexpectedly giving birth in US hospital

[kpete]

A Canadian woman was hit with an unexpected medical bill of nearly $1 million after going into labor early while vacationing in Hawaii.

Jennifer Huculak-Kimmel was six months pregnant when she was cleared by her doctor to leave the country on vacation.

She and her husband purchased travel insurance before flying from their home in Saskatchewan to Maui.


But two days after arriving, her water broke and she went into labor nine weeks early.




the rest:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/canadian-woman-hit-with-950k-medical-bill-after-unexpectedly-giving-birth-in-us-hospital/

[Thinkingabout]

1. This may have been one which the GOP said was beating down our doors to get health care.

I am sure this would not have cost this amount of money in Canada. I have friends who travel lots in their work, has international insurance and are told if any elective procedure is to be performed not to do this in the US. Co-pays in the US are higher than the complete procedures elsewhere, yes we need to get a handle on our health care cost.

[Mass]

3. For a baby born 9 weeks early, I am not sure the cost would have been that different.

[Thinkingabout]

10. Our healthcare is twice that of any other nation, yes it would have been.

International insurance advise their insured to only get emergency care in the US. The cost is higher in the US.

[Mass]

11. Yes, but I am not sure half the cost would have been more affordale for them.

There are only a handful of countries where the cost would have been affordable without an insurance.

But yes, medical care is expensive in this country. When I first arrived from France, the average difference of cost was 1 to 5 for the same medicines by the same companies.

This is simply not the main issue here.

[Thinkingabout]

15. We should be so lucky to have a health care system as France has.

[Mass]

2. Misleading title. The cost of a baby born 9 weeks early is high everywhere.

The real question is why Blue Cross did not pay.

[frazzled]

6. They must have bought a non-ACA compliant policy

One of those "grandfathered in" things that Tea Partiers demanded.

Otherwise, beginning in 2014, no insurance could deny you coverage for a pre-existing condition. Note, however:

The benefits, rights, and protections offered to those with preexisting conditions only apply to plans that have to comply with the ACA. If your plan was issued before 2014 and would have faced cancellation in 2014 but the “fix” to keep your plan until 2015 was put in place it may be exempt from any or all of the above.

http://obamacarefacts.com/pre-existing-conditions/

In other words, those who wanted to "keep" their crappy insurance caused this woman to get such a big bill.

[tammywammy]

7. No, she bought a Canadian policy to cover travel in the US.

Has nothing to do with ACA. Her Canadian insurance is denying the claim.

[Beaverhausen]

8. This happened in 2013

[JayhawkSD]

4. There is one part that bothers me.

"She insists she never would have traveled if she believed there was a risk to her baby or herself."

Come on. At six months pregnant, and airline flight of more than six hours, of course there was some risk to her baby. Airplanes are crowded, noisy and cramped, not allowing sufficient movement and presenting a risk of blood clots in the legs. Subjecting her body to being cramped up with insufficient movement to provide adequate circulation in a reduced pressure atmosphere absolutely poses a risk, and doing that for the sake of a vacation that could have been taken at some other time...

[Zorra]

12. Apparently, her doctor told her she was ok to fly.

"Jennifer Huculak-Kimmel was six months pregnant when she was cleared by her doctor to leave the country on vacation."

Maybe she shouldn't have trusted her doctor here, but...

Some pregnant women take what they believe is every precaution in the universe, and coddle themselves to the extreme, and still miscarry, or go into labor early.

And some pregnant women continue to live their normal active lives all during pregnancy, never even see a doctor, and could be picking veggies in the garden, or something like that, when they feel the baby coming, and simply go inside and have a completely healthy baby on the couch. Dad assists the birth, cuts the cord, throws the sheets in the wash, and life continues. All my children and grandchildren were born this way, and all are very healthy and happy.

[deaniac21]

14. O-Lan lives!!!

[ctaylors6]

13. I think the risk was low

of anything like that happening. However, I think it's a good reminder for all of us to think about what COULD happen on a trip like that and protect ourselves against it. That doesn't necessarily mean not going on the trip, but investigating the medical care that would be available and how to pay for it.

[Shrike47]

5. This one sounds like it's worth suing Blue Cross over.

[WillowTree]

9. Why? Do you know the terms of the Canadian travel insurance policy that she bought?