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Diamond Member
- Sep 15, 2010
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Canadian woman hit with 950K medical bill after unexpectedly giving birth in US hospital
She had been at the hospital for about a week when her insurance carrier, Blue Cross, notified her that her coverage was denied due to a pre-existing condition – a bladder infection she’d had during the fourth month of her pregnancy.
Huculak-Kimmel said her specialist had examined her prior to the trip with an ultrasound, and the physician determined her pregnancy was stable.
“He saw no reason for me not to go,” she said.
She told the Blue Cross salesperson about the bladder infection when she bought her travel policy, and the representative said she was fine to travel because she was less than 36 weeks pregnant.
“I guess we thought we had done everything right,” she said.
A medical expert told CBC that he believes the treatment should have been covered if Huculak-Kimmel was cleared by her physician, who sent a letter to Blue Cross.
“I don’t think we can be our own doctors,” Steven Lewis, a health policy analyst in Saskatoon. “Either we do, or we don’t have a pre-existing condition — and we’re not likely to know about them unless we’ve been told by our doctors that we have them.”
Huculak-Kimmel spent six weeks on bed rest at the hospital, and she was told that her daughter would require a lengthy stay in the neonatal intensive care unit – if she survived.
That cost up to $15,000 per day, and she spent about $30,000 renting a condominium and car during her daughter’s two-month hospital stay.
She had been at the hospital for about a week when her insurance carrier, Blue Cross, notified her that her coverage was denied due to a pre-existing condition – a bladder infection she’d had during the fourth month of her pregnancy.
Huculak-Kimmel said her specialist had examined her prior to the trip with an ultrasound, and the physician determined her pregnancy was stable.
“He saw no reason for me not to go,” she said.
She told the Blue Cross salesperson about the bladder infection when she bought her travel policy, and the representative said she was fine to travel because she was less than 36 weeks pregnant.
“I guess we thought we had done everything right,” she said.
A medical expert told CBC that he believes the treatment should have been covered if Huculak-Kimmel was cleared by her physician, who sent a letter to Blue Cross.
“I don’t think we can be our own doctors,” Steven Lewis, a health policy analyst in Saskatoon. “Either we do, or we don’t have a pre-existing condition — and we’re not likely to know about them unless we’ve been told by our doctors that we have them.”
Huculak-Kimmel spent six weeks on bed rest at the hospital, and she was told that her daughter would require a lengthy stay in the neonatal intensive care unit – if she survived.
That cost up to $15,000 per day, and she spent about $30,000 renting a condominium and car during her daughter’s two-month hospital stay.
