The heartbreak and cost of losing a baby in America

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Despite the deaths of their babies, hospital bills continued to accumulate. Though they had insurance, these parents faced exorbitant medical bills for their fragile, sick infants.

"The process was just so heartless," said one parent.

npr.org
The heartbreak and cost of losing a baby in America
Even after their babies died, hospital bills kept coming. These parents of fragile, very sick infants faced exorbitant bills — though they had insurance. "The process was just so heartless," one says.
9:44 AM · Sep 22, 2022

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/09/22/1121612539/baby-high-medical-bills-nicu-heartbreak

The day after his 8-month-old baby died, Kingsley Raspe opened the mail and found he had been sent to collections for her care.

That notice from the collections agency involved a paltry sum, $26.50 — absurd really, given he'd previously been told he owed $2.5 million for treatment of his newborn's congenital heart defect and other disorders.

Raspe and his wife, Maddie, had endured watching doctors crack open the chest of their pigtailed daughter, Sterling, whom they called "sweet Sterly gurl." The health team performed so many procedures. But they couldn't keep her — or her parents' dreams for her — alive.

The bills lived on for the Raspes, as they do for many other families of premature and very sick infants who don't survive.

"What a lasting tribute to the entire experience," Kingsley said angrily. "The process was just so heartless."

More than 300,000 U.S. families have infants who require advanced medical attention in the newborn intensive care units every year. Some babies stay for months, quickly generating astronomical fees for highly specialized surgeries and round-the-clock care. The services are delivered, and in U.S. health care, billing follows. But for the smaller fraction of families whose children die, the burden can be too much to bear.

*snip*

[onecaliberal]

1. The people who profit off this should rot in hell.