If anyone needs any more evidence that the American healthcare system is broken, consider the birth of Kathryn Darling, the new daughter of one Starla D. Darling, 27, of Ashland, OH.
Laid off from her job at a cookie factory, where she'd worked for eight years, the expectant mother took medicine to induce labor two days before her health insurance would expire in hopes she would not be stuck with the bill for the delivery. She ended up having an emergency C-section and still getting the bill.
As Darling told the New York Times: "When I heard that I was losing my insurance, I was scared. I remember that the bill for my son’s delivery in 2005 was about $9,000, and I knew I would never be able to pay that by myself."
So she asked her midwife to induce: "I was determined that we were getting this baby out, and it was going to be paid for," said Darling. The insurance company denied her claim leaving the unemployed new mother with more than $17,000 in medical bills, since a C-section is more expensive than a vaginal delivery.
As the recession deepens and more American workers lose their health insurance along with their jobs, we expect to hear more mind-boggling stories like this one.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
And the Good Times Just Keep a Comin'
Per Salon today:
'Nuff said, I think.
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2 comments:
Heard about this. Crazy. But more because of the drastic steps this mother took to pay for her baby's delivery. Seems dangerous. Maybe the bun was late in coming anyway, but it makes the mom look like she took a risk with her child's heath, what with the "medicine" and midwife. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, but it seems rash. Of course, the insurance companies don't care either way and would never accept any blame.
i agree about the woman potentially taking a risk to her and the baby's health but i can also sympathize with why she would be willing to do that, if she was looking at a $9,000 hospital bill.
I came out of my c-section with bills close to $4,000 and that was with health insurance. I took almost two years to pay that off. Not cool.
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