88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
A Canadian woman had an emergency C-section during a Hawaiian vacation. Will she go bankrupt because of it?
By Sarah Larimer November 19 at 4:12 PM
Last November, Saskatchewan resident Jennifer Huculak-Kimmel left for Hawaii with her husband, Darren. She was six months pregnant.
She had consulted with her doctor before the trip and purchased travel insurance, according to Canadian media reports. But her water broke a few days into the vacation, and Huculak-Kimmel was put on bed rest. Six weeks later, on Dec. 10, her daughter, Reece, arrived.
Now, Huculak-Kimmel has a baby girl, who is approaching her first birthday. She also has an unexpected $950,000 medical bill, which might leave her family bankrupt.
"Blue Cross said that because I had a bladder infection at four months and hemorrhaged because of that, that they would not cover the pregnancy,"Huculak-Kimmel told the CBC. "We thought we had done everything right. We thought we had covered all avenues and we thought we were covered. We thought we were safe to go."
Huculak-Kimmel's family had just purchased a house before the trip,according to the National Post. The house is on the market now, and the decision on whether to dispute Blue Cross's claim denial is looming.
"We haven't made a decision," she told the paper. "We don't really know what to do. We’re kind of weighing out our options."
Here's how the expenses piled up, according to Huculak-Kimmel: There was an air ambulance in Hawaii, plus her stint in the hospital, and an emergency Cesarean section. Then came weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit for baby Reece.
Saskatchewan Blue Cross did not immediately respond to a telephone message and e-mail from The Post.
The case is generating some discussion in Canada, which (obviously) has a much different health-care system than the United States.
Via the National Post:
Saskatchewan's minister of health, Dustin Duncan, was asked about the case after question period Tuesday in the legislature. He said he had only found out about the story shortly before, and didn't have details about what role the ministry might play.
Duncan expressed sympathy for the family, mentioning that he himself had a child born early.
"Certainly, $950,000, I don’t know how my family would be able to afford that," Duncan said.
On Wednesday, a Canadian lawyer who works on cases similar to Huculak-Kimmel's told the CBC that he didn't think she should pay the nearly $1 million bill.
"What I typically counsel people to do is to not pay the bills, depending on their circumstances, because I have yet to see a big health authority come into Canada to try and enforce and collect," Scott Stanley said, according to the CBC. "And of course, they'd have to do that."
He added: "There's probably nothing she could have done differently and that's the real tragedy here. I mean, I see cases like this all the time — not necessarily involving pregnancies — where people have gone to the United States ... and they've had a minor medical condition, but that's enough to disqualify them."
CBC News posted a copy of the letter sent to Huculak-Kimmel, which you can read there.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...will-she-go-bankrupt-because-of-it/?tid=sm_fb
By Sarah Larimer November 19 at 4:12 PM
Last November, Saskatchewan resident Jennifer Huculak-Kimmel left for Hawaii with her husband, Darren. She was six months pregnant.
She had consulted with her doctor before the trip and purchased travel insurance, according to Canadian media reports. But her water broke a few days into the vacation, and Huculak-Kimmel was put on bed rest. Six weeks later, on Dec. 10, her daughter, Reece, arrived.
Now, Huculak-Kimmel has a baby girl, who is approaching her first birthday. She also has an unexpected $950,000 medical bill, which might leave her family bankrupt.
"Blue Cross said that because I had a bladder infection at four months and hemorrhaged because of that, that they would not cover the pregnancy,"Huculak-Kimmel told the CBC. "We thought we had done everything right. We thought we had covered all avenues and we thought we were covered. We thought we were safe to go."
Huculak-Kimmel's family had just purchased a house before the trip,according to the National Post. The house is on the market now, and the decision on whether to dispute Blue Cross's claim denial is looming.
"We haven't made a decision," she told the paper. "We don't really know what to do. We’re kind of weighing out our options."
Here's how the expenses piled up, according to Huculak-Kimmel: There was an air ambulance in Hawaii, plus her stint in the hospital, and an emergency Cesarean section. Then came weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit for baby Reece.
Saskatchewan Blue Cross did not immediately respond to a telephone message and e-mail from The Post.
The case is generating some discussion in Canada, which (obviously) has a much different health-care system than the United States.
Via the National Post:
Saskatchewan's minister of health, Dustin Duncan, was asked about the case after question period Tuesday in the legislature. He said he had only found out about the story shortly before, and didn't have details about what role the ministry might play.
Duncan expressed sympathy for the family, mentioning that he himself had a child born early.
"Certainly, $950,000, I don’t know how my family would be able to afford that," Duncan said.
On Wednesday, a Canadian lawyer who works on cases similar to Huculak-Kimmel's told the CBC that he didn't think she should pay the nearly $1 million bill.
"What I typically counsel people to do is to not pay the bills, depending on their circumstances, because I have yet to see a big health authority come into Canada to try and enforce and collect," Scott Stanley said, according to the CBC. "And of course, they'd have to do that."
He added: "There's probably nothing she could have done differently and that's the real tragedy here. I mean, I see cases like this all the time — not necessarily involving pregnancies — where people have gone to the United States ... and they've had a minor medical condition, but that's enough to disqualify them."
CBC News posted a copy of the letter sent to Huculak-Kimmel, which you can read there.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...will-she-go-bankrupt-because-of-it/?tid=sm_fb
